


Skipped a Few Steps

by EmmaLuLuChu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aromantic Keith, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk (Voltron)-centric, M/M, childcare au, nonbinary characters - Freeform, talk of past trauma/ptsd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 09:12:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11688549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaLuLuChu/pseuds/EmmaLuLuChu
Summary: Hunk and Shiro sitting in a tree!K-I-S-S-I-N-G!First comes love, then comes self-discovery!Then comes adoption and never dating again!orHunk always dreamed of falling in love, getting married, and having a kid, but decided to go about it in the wrong order because he was tired of waiting and now he doesn’t know how to handle the really attractive childcare worker that cares for his child every day after school.-a fic for the General Voltron Big Bang, with accompanying art from teicakes-





	1. Crying in Aisle 4

**Author's Note:**

> nearly half a year in the making, i present what is one of my most favorite works to date

People are funny whenever the topic of children comes up. Most people are enthused at the idea, some are unsure, and a good majority avoided it entirely.

Make one mention of _maybe_ not having kids and every time someone will be there to jump down your throat with _why do that?_ and _you’ll regret it!_ as if they could foresee the future.

Actually _talk_ about having kids and now it’s _do you really think you’re ready?_ and _you’ve gotta sacrifice!_ and it’s as if they _don’t_ want you to have them.

Now, if you _really_ wanted to shake things up, tell them you plan to raise a child without finding a significant other first.

-

Hunk could probably go on for ages about all the comments he’d gotten about his life choices that others thought their opinion mattered on, the fact that his sexuality was still regarded as sinful and gross wasn’t very good and he was tired of the people who made passes at his weight and say how much better he’d look if he just dropped ten pounds, but he knew thinking about it too much was letting them win.

Instead he focused on what mattered- his wants out of life.

From a young age Hunk always knew the basic three step process they sang about to tease others, dating, marrying, and childbearing, and it had always made sense to him. He used to play that MASH game that was supposed to predict your future (Mansion Apartment Shack and House right?) and was always pleased each time it predicted that he’d have kids and be in love. There was probably one time he’d wound up with no kids and had cried his eyes out for a solid half hour.

But as Hunk grew older his thoughts shifted slightly. The world seemed to be on a non-stop whirlwind to utter disaster, the thought of dating grew to be more daunting with each relationship he had that didn’t work out, and one day he woke up and thought long and hard and came to a decision that still to this day he was grateful for.

So what if skipping over dating and marriage and going right to having a kid wasn’t the normal sequence? Common advice was to wait for no one and make your own happiness, and that’s exactly what Hunk did (though even his parents worried about his decision).

His happy was living on his own, working a job he enjoyed, and only having to care for himself and one other person.

His own life wouldn’t have been drastically different no matter who he had adopted, but he was thankful everyday for having met Kade.

Hunk knew Kade had been the one the moment he saw a picture of the child, with the widest eyes and the most unruly hair one could see. Nobody had adopted them yet despite being at the most sought after age, because of how vocal they were that they weren’t a he or a she and just wanted to be Kade. He’d held them so close and so tight when they first met, and watched as their doe eyes lit up when he called them by the pronouns they wanted.

Kade enjoyed robots and dressing up, said tooken instead of taken despite proper grammar, and was in a phase where they refused to eat anything red because it was spicy like the sun. They always begged Hunk if they could play with his phone just to use the Snapchat filters and spoke in the softest voice when they talked about something they loved with all their heart. In short; Kade was perfect.

Kade would be starting 1st grade and according to their last Kindergarten teacher Kade was very enthusiastic about school and Hunk couldn’t be more proud. Hunk’s job didn’t let him leave until almost 5 o’ clock some days, but luckily the school Kade attended had a care program that worked perfectly with their schedule.

They would both prove to everyone that a family could truly be anything, even just a child and a parent that weren’t of the same blood.

-

Shiro had always had an affinity for kids. From the time he babysat his neighbor’s kid the first time to his job where he just stepped up as a site leader for an aftercare program, he knew he’d wanted to work with children. It was always the last thing people thought when they saw him the first time, a built man at six feet and sporting a prosthetic arm and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, sitting on a floor with a group of children and playing duck duck goose with them.

He never felt like the extra praise he received was necessary, of course there wasn’t a large portion of men that worked childcare, but it was too natural of an instinct for him to consider it a special talent. Shiro would sooner walk into hell than not help a child in distress.

He had plenty of stories to tell (his favorite was the time he was watching the kiddie pool and the entire group from some other school kept vying for his attention) but he figured his current predicament would become another one.

Shiro had needed to just pick up some breakfast food, the eggs had gone bad and he was craving avocados, and figured a quick grocery run would fit into his schedule. He’d wandered into the cereal section on his way to the produce at the store and right in the middle of the aisle sat a crying child (literally, parked themselves right on the floor) and Shiro could only sigh, he’d wanted this trip to only take thirty minutes, but clearly that wasn’t happening now.

He stepped a bit closer, clearing his throat and calling out,

“Hey buddy, you okay?”

Immediately the kid looked up, cheeks red and wild hair falling over their eyes. They side-eyed Shiro and clearly weren’t immediately trusting of him, which was both good and bad to see. Good because they knew stranger danger, and bad because it would probably make this take a little longer.

Nevertheless Shiro recognized the child’s wariness, staying where he was but crouched down to match their eye level with a gentle smile, waving his natural hand at them, “Hey there, my name’s Shiro. Are you here with your mommy or daddy?”

The child nodded, relaxing a bit as they saw Shiro keep a respectful distance, quietly murmuring out, “W-With Daddy. I tried to help him, b-but I don’t know where he went.”

Shiro nodded in reply, humming in thought. “Okay, I’d like to help you get back to him. What’s your name?” He was more than a little startled when the kid responded back with the confidence of a roaring lion,

“Kade Garrett! My Daddy’s Mr. Garrett!”

Shiro held back the chuckle he wanted to let out, instead straightening up and holding a hand out,

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Kade Garrett, how about you walk with me up to the front? Maybe we’ll find your dad along the way?”

Kade nodded, standing up as they wiped at their eyes, quickly running over to follow along next to Shiro, eagerly grasping at the offered hand.

The two had glanced down a few aisles just in case, but eventually wound up at the front of the store, where the customer service was. Shiro was just about to walk them to the service counter to see if the parent could be called over the PA, when apparently Kade got a whole other idea in their head, tugging at his arm. Shiro obliged the lost child, glancing down at the chocolate eyes that stared at him.

“Stay with me? Until Daddy comes back?”

So maybe it would’ve been easier to go up and call over the store for the child’s parent, but the child seemed to be happy to just sit and wait. Shiro had already come to terms with staying at the store longer than planned, and simply sat with the kid as they had asked.

 Kade babbled about many different things as the time passed, Shiro nodding along as he kept an eye out for any adults running around in a panic. He should’ve figured that his arm would come into question though, Kade innocently asking about it while their eyes stared at the metal in wonder. He fumbled to either make that story sound a lot nicer or divert with a different subject.

Shiro went with a different subject, faking a gasp of surprise that pulled the child’s eyes away from his arm, “Hey, I just realized, you never told me what your Daddy looked like! If I knew, maybe it’ll be easier to find him.”

Instantly upon hearing the question, Kade’s eyes lit up, and they stated in the softest voice Shiro had ever heard a child use,

“He’s the biggest, most beautifullest tan guy I ever saw.”

Before he could even respond, he genuinely wanted to know what it was that made this father the most beautifullest tan guy ever, Shiro heard what he distinctly knew as the panic of a parent.

“Oh my god Kade! _Where were you?!_ ”

Shiro looked up, ready to help explain things, only to have his mind go blank at the shock that went through his body.

Thick black locks of hair framed a face that held a rounded nose and chestnut eyes, the dark skin he had only enhancing everything to a level unknown, the only other thing that came to mind to compare was the rays of light from the sun that broke through the clouds after a cloudy and chilly day.

To put it frankly, the man that stood before him, hands on his knees while he caught his breath, had Shiro feeling a certain way that he couldn’t quite name, but he _liked it._

“Daddy!”

Kade jumped from where they sat next to Shiro at the other, the father just barely able to catch the child. He searched all over the youngest, likely checking for any random injuries.

“I turn my back to pick up juice for one second, and you were gone! I know you were trying to help, but I told you we’d pick out cereal together!”

Kade had the decency to look sheepish, leaning their head onto their Dad’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry Daddy. Mister Shiro helped me though.”

The father looked confused for a moment, before he finally noticed Shiro sitting dumbfounded in front of him, jumping in surprise. “Oh, sorry there! Didn’t even see you, were you helping Kade?”

Shiro nodded, luckily swallowing despite his dry throat. “Yeah, I found them in the cereal aisle. Took them right up here, and I would’ve asked them to do a store-wide call, but little buddy here seemed happy with sitting and waiting.”

The man sighed in relief, placing Kade down and offering a hand out.

“Yeah that seems like them, helpful but avoids convenience. I can’t thank you enough, Shiro, right?”

He took the offered hand, smiling back at the other. “Yes, and I guess you’re Mr. Garrett, if Kade’s correct?”

Kade’s father let out a laugh, Shiro’s heart skipping just slightly at the gentleness, pulling the hand away to ruffle the hair on said kid, “Technically, sure, I prefer Hunk though.”

The name seemed so perfect for him, Shiro having to mentally shake himself to respond to the other, it had been a fair while since the last time he’d dated and he couldn’t believe how quickly he was smitten by Hunk.

“I guess I prefer that too. You have a wonderful child, I’m happy they could get back to you.”

Hunk thanked him once more, saying a farewell as they left, Kade’s arm moving in a rapid motion as they went off to continue their grocery shopping.

So maybe Shiro had been late to his clinic appointment and work training that day, and in his rush to go he’d picked up a carton of cracked eggs and all the avocadoes were gone, but it was well worth it if it was the only chance he’d get to meet Hunk and Kade.

-

It wasn’t until much later that the events of the day would come back to Hunk’s memory, brought on by his best friend Lance.

_“So did anything super exciting happen today kiddo?”_

Hunk was half-listening to the phone conversation that was on speaker, Kade always enjoyed talking with their Uncle Lance when he called, focusing on finishing up their dinner but had his attention abruptly drawn when Kade responded in a very plain voice,

“I met Mister Shiro today, I think Daddy likes him.”

The pot Hunk was holding nearly dropped out of his hands at that, thankfully he recovered and resumed draining the pasta, and began to mentally prepare himself for the barrage of questions that would be aimed at him. There was an interested lilt to Lance’s voice, grainy sounding as he continued to ask Kade,

_“Oooooh really? Was this Mister Shiro handsome looking?”_

Hunk placed the empty pot back down, sneaking a glance over at where Kade was seated on the countertop. They hummed in thought before glancing back down at Hunk’s phone in their hands and responding,

“One of his arms was silver and he was wearing makeup or somethin’, and he looked at Daddy like he wants to marry him.”

With that Hunk started to laugh, bracing himself against the sink. Who knows whether the laughter was caused by Kade’s disinterested tone or the thought of that man on one knee and asking him for his hand. He could hear Lance joining in, his laughs sounding muffled as he likely buried his head into a pillow. Kade just looked in confusion between Hunk and the phone, and Hunk did his best to wrap up the laughing quick so Kade wouldn’t get upset because they thought the laughing was aimed at them.

“Did he look at me like that Kade? You’re a hundred percent positive?”

Kade firmly nodded, and Hunk took a moment to think back, see if he could remember seeing anything in those deep, stunning grey eyes, or if Shiro had looked at his lips like Hunk had glanced at his-

Well shit. if anything Hunk was crushing on _him_ , and they had talked for barely two minutes. Perfect.

Hunk heard Kade let out a sigh, an incredulous tone tainting their voice as they spoke to Lance again,

“Great, now my Daddy looks like _he_ wants to marry Mister Shiro!”

It wouldn’t be the first time Hunk dropped to the floor, face buried in his hands and Lance guffawing in the background, but there was a feeling deep in his gut that maybe there was something different with this time it happened. That it was the starting place of something new.

That or he was just hungry and hadn’t dated in nearly a year. But who knew?


	2. TFW that hot guy you met at the grocery store happens to work at the school your child goes to

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so Hunk was totally not expecting to ever see Shiro again.
> 
> cue Hunk seeing Shiro again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys love Kade, they're my sweet nonbinary OC and is like the third character focus of this whole fic

Most times when you met a stranger, chances are you’d never see them again, there was likely a fancy statistic for it too, but that was escaping Hunk at the moment as he was literally sweating in the line to pick up his child.

It was the first week of school, which couldn’t have come soon enough with the way Kade had badgered on and on about it, and because of Hunk’s job he sadly couldn’t leave work until almost 5:30 sometimes to get Kade, and he couldn’t keep relying on Lance all the time to watch them like the end of last year when he’d first adopted the child, so he’d enrolled Kade at the afterschool care program at the school

The program was a state-wide ordeal, and had even started up in a few outside states too, what with the rise in parents having to work long hours and needing more childcare options. It was the first time either of them had been in it, so of course he didn’t know who to expect there.

He definitely wasn’t expecting the conveniently attractive guy that had helped his lost child at the grocery store to be working as the first-in-charge of the program though.

Hunk tried not to stare as he waited in line to sign his kid out, but couldn’t help glancing at whom was clearly somebody he thought he’d never see again. Shiro was talking to each parent that came in, likely introducing himself since he kept faintly hearing the other repeating ‘new site leader’ and ‘new staffing’.

“Who’re you here to pick up?”

Hunk blinked out of his stupor, turning to the person sitting behind the desk, who was clearly still a student in high school but looked like they could take Hunk’s job right now, if the crammed full backpack behind them was anything to go by and the half-built tech project that sat next to it.

“Sorry, Kade Garrett? I have my license if you-“

“Yeah I’ll need the license.”

Hunk forgave the other for the snappish tone, if the parent from ten minutes ago that threw their license at them was anything to go by, this high schooler had already been through a rough equivalent to customer service hell. He handed said card over, taking a brief glance at the nametag that hung from the robot-themed lanyard around their neck,

“Sorry, about that, uh, Pidge? First time doing this, but you’ve probably heard that from the other parents.”

The name tag that hung from the lanyard was kind of scratched up, but it definitely said Pidge of all things. He wasn’t one to talk about names though. Pidge shrugged as they shuffled through all the papers on the table, responding with a more neutral tone,

“Not necessarily, most of these parents have had their kid in for at least a year; this is only my fourth day on the job.”

“Wait, does that include that parent that yelled at you because you didn’t recognize them from the other day?”

That had happened not to shortly after the suburban mom that threw the license, somebody had pulled that parent to the side to keep from making the scene go any further, but obviously not without Pidge being subjected to some torture.

Pidge made some grunt of agreement, adjusting their glasses as they compared the license to a thick leaflet of paper they had finally pulled out before handing it back, and picking up the walkie that sat next to them. Hunk had barely a moment to blink and contemplate exactly how many jerk parents had their kid here, when a familiar voice called out to him,

“Oh, hey! Funny to see you here.”

Shit. There was no avoiding it now.

Hunk turned, kind of internally screaming, as he came face to face with Shiro again, wearing his own space-themed lanyard with a nametag that clearly stated that this gorgeous man was the leader of the place. “Yeah! Funny.”

“I had meant to ask if you had your child enrolled or not, but you were gone pretty fast afterwards back at the store.”

Hunk laughed, hoping he didn’t sound nervous, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked to anybody that he was decently interested in, and he’d need to get over this quickly if they’d see each other every day during the week.

“Yeah, having your child disappear like that can take a lot out of you. Kade couldn’t stop talking about you the rest of the day though.”

Shiro chuckled (holy wow that deep tone did things), a hand unconsciously moving to rub at his right arm, “I believe you, plenty of kids question my arm.”

Hunk had to squint in wonder for a moment, before remembering that the other had a prosthetic instead of a human right arm, quickly shaking his head,

“Oh no, that was the start of the conversation but they stopped when I explained that sometimes people don’t have certain parts of their bodies,”

Hunk missed the touched look that crossed Shiro’s eyes, the site leader not commonly used to coming across people so casual about physical disabilities and normalizing it, a warm smile growing on Shiro’s face as Hunk continued,

“If anything they were more interested by your face. Kade was convinced that you were wearing make up on your nose and eyes.”

Shiro blinked at that, a straight up guffaw bursting past his lips once he recognized the words.

“Oh! Yeah, ha, the nose is just a scar, came with the arm,”

He tapped his nose for emphasis, the pink scar striking against the others complexion, and the same hand moved up to card through the white hair that hung over his forehead, eyes darting off to the side as he sheepishly admitted,

“They weren’t wrong about the eyes though. I got dared to try and do a full face of make up in high school once, and I wound up liking the eyeliner a bit more than I thought I would. It’s a part of my daily routine now.”

Sure enough Hunk looked that little bit closer and holy shit. There was eyeliner, a simple and thin wing on each eyelid. It accentuated his eyes really well actually.

“Boss, can you maybe not make the parent hold up the line?”

The callout from the student worker reminded Hunk that there was a decently long line behind him, quickly apologizing to the other parents and stepping to the side, which just allowed him and Shiro to talk some more.

“So, I think I heard you saying stuff about being new here? Like new people?”

Shiro’s smile dulled a bit, nodding in confirmation as he went on to explain,

“Yes, entirely new staffing here. Probably doesn’t matter that much to you, since you’re new in the program, but I’ve had to let the other parents know.”

“I’d say I hope it was going okay, but,” Hunk briefly glanced over his shoulder, glad to see the parent behind him was being nice to Pidge, “I’m guessing there have been some bumps in the road.”

“That’s one nice way to say it.”

He would’ve asked to see if Shiro wanted to elaborate, but Hunk heard tiny footsteps then. His eyes flicked over to the hallway, breaking out into a grin when he saw Kade, still wearing the tutu they’d picked out for their first day and toting their Trolls backpack. He held his arms open, calling out to his child, “Hey there buddy!”

Kade looked up and instantly smiled, quickly running over and jumping into the arms provided, giggling as Hunk lifted them up, “I missed you Daddy! Missed you lots and _lots_!”

“I missed you _so much_ kiddo! I can’t wait to hear about your day!”

It was so easy to fall into this, to focus and just make Kade keep smiling, to see their face light up with mischief as Hunk hummed back, shaking his head.

“Don’t know if I believe you though. Can you show me how much you missed me?”

Kade waited patiently until they were set down, stretching their arms out as far as they could go, also spreading their legs out too as if that would add to it, “ _This much!”_

Hunk gasped in surprise, leaning over to properly poke the raven haired kid on the nose.

“That _is_ a lot.”

Shiro couldn’t hold back any longer, laughing lightly at the spectacle. Hunk also chuckled, having forgotten for a second where he was, but Kade instead furrowed their eyebrows, putting their hands on their hips as they glared at Shiro,

“Don’t laugh at me or Daddy!”

Both adults blinked in confusion for a moment, before Hunk found realization and shook his head, patting a hand on top of Kade’s head.

“He wasn’t being mean buddy, he was laughing because he was happy like we were.”

The child let out a soft _oh_ , looking back up at Shiro. “I’m sorry Mister Shiro. You can laugh with Daddy and me.”

Shiro managed to hold back on his laughter this time, solemnly nodding at Kade. “Thank you for the permission Kade. You two should head home before the traffic hits, it was good to see you both again, and I can’t wait to see how this year goes!”

Hunk waved in response to Shiro’s goodbye, taking one of Kade’s hands and walking them out of the building and out to Hunk’s old-but-still-working car, getting _just a bit_ excited at being able to see Shiro so consistently.

He couldn’t wait to see how this school year would go either.

-

They were down to the last few kids finally, all of them sitting up at the entrance and quietly reading or playing as they waited for their parents, and Shiro did his best to hold back the bone-weary sigh that wished to make itself known.

Hunk had been right about what he said; there were a _lot_ of bumps in the road, and many more to come. The school he was the site leader of now currently had… a _lot_ of past issues. He could go on about all the protocols violated, or think back in horror at the previous staffing too, but it was better to just focus on the future as of right now. It would take time for the families who were still here from last year to adjust, but it would happen in due time.

Shiro was just about ready to not speak any more for the night, wishing he’d brought a water bottle for his now dry throat and mouth from all the constant talking he’d been doing, but simply heaved a sigh when someone started to talk to him. Again.

“How many are left?”

Shiro turned to the voice behind him, smiling as he got a look at his assistant site leader, Allura. Her father was his previous field manager, had actually been the one who’d exposed a lot of what was going at this site beforehand, and happened to have a wonderful daughter that Shiro now worked with. Allura was meant to be a leader, it likely wouldn’t be long before she herself moved on to another site to lead there, but currently she was working under him and he was working as a somewhat mentor for her. She had silvery hair that caught all the kids attention and made girls ask if they could braid it, had a generally sweet disposition, but was a demon at card games and dodgeball. She was also prone to pushing buttons on kids and easily had her own pushed by them too, so he knew the major thing to work on was her temperament. Either way, it was a good move to place her here, she was something that these kids needed, a nice but firm personality, somewhat alike to his own one.

“Less than ten, and mostly siblings too. We should only have to wait on three more parents.”

“Wonderful! Did you want me to start locking up?”

“Good idea, I’ll stay up here.”

As Allura went off to start locking up the rooms they had used, Shiro ruminated some more on his other staff.

He and Allura were the main authority figures, but they had one more that focused on being a one-on-one more, but was given the title of third-in-charge, and that was Coran. He was an eccentric man; always twirled his moustache as he observed something or other and always seemed to be drinking mint tea. Coran was a goof and said he wouldn’t hesitate to step in if they were low on staff, and at his previous site he seemed to be famous for performing ‘war stories’ that had the kids laughing along.

His gaze turned up at the sound of a pop, looking over at his poor new student worker, Pidge, who hissed as they pushed a finger into their mouth, and he could practically see the cloud that formed above their head as they tried to hold the swear words at bay. The poor kid had wanted nothing more than to work on their project, but they would have to learn that this wasn’t a job they could blow off and study the whole time. Their older brother was Matt (his oldest friend, from way back before the accident, they had worked at the same site since they were student workers themselves and had both moved on to being site leaders) and was the main reason they had been able to land this job, but Shiro hoped that he could spark at least some interest in this career path in them.

He walked over to them, helping gather some of the papers spread out and about as he started up some idle chit chat, “How do you like your job so far?”

The look Shiro received could kill people, brows tightly knit together over amber eyes as Pidge let out a deep groan, “I can’t believe these guys. Literally only my second time running the desk, and I was supposed to remember the names _and_ faces of almost _sixty parents_?”

The older male sighed in sympathy, finishing up the papers and moving to pull out a late sign-out sheet. “Yeah, they have you guys doing a lot more than what your brother and I did, we used to just have to worry about making sure things were clean, maybe run some papers and ice packs, but then we could hang out with the kids.”

“You have _got_ to be kidding me. I have to clean, run ice packs, take care of snack, _and_ help run the front desk?!” Pidge grunted and fell back into their seat, glancing down as if to address their project.“So unfair.”

A knock on the door grabbed both of their attentions, and thankfully it was the last few parents who needed to pick up, barely a minute before the appointed time they’d be required to fill out the late sign-out. Shiro wasn’t quite sure he could handle the potential of anymore screaming parents, so he was willing to let it slide if the official time out was a minute after. Two of the kids waved goodbye to him, one of the little girls rushed up to give him a hug before leaving with their family, but the rest of the kids either shrugged off his goodbye or outright ignored him, which he’d expected for the most part. He sighed again as he locked the entrance, it would take a long time for them to adjust. He needed to keep reminding himself that, keep repeating those words from Alfor:

_“They’re used to how it was before and it will take time, but give it long enough and they’ll come around. Patience yields focus.”_

“Sooooooo. . .”

He turned back around at the open ended question, raising an eyebrow as Pidge smirked while packing up their things, “So what?”

“That one parent from earlier, you talked with them like you’d met before?”

Shiro smiled, immediately thinking back to Hunk. His bright smile and enthusiasm when he saw Kade, the image alone warmed his chest and it was something he wished he could hold onto.

“Yeah, last week I was at the store and found his kid crying in one of the aisles.”

“Wait, which kid?”

“The one wearing a tutu today?”

Instantly Pidge’s eyes lit up, recognizing the child who’d happily twirled around the whole time just to see their skirt poof up. “Oh my god. I think they’re my favorite kid here. That’s his child?”

Shiro smiled and nodded, continuing from where he left off, “So I helped Kade up to the front, and sat with them until he came by. I wasn’t sure if I’d see them here, but it looks like Hunk, the father, must work a late running job.” When he didn’t receive a response from Pidge, he turned and blanked at the look the other was giving him. He was able to place it as that teasing look he’d gotten from Matt many a time, and quietly groaned as the student worker finally spoke.

“You like him, don’t you?”

Shiro rubbed a hand over his eyes, asking them to finish packing down while he went to deposit some checks in the back, and tried to ignore the not-so-subtle snickering behind him. Once he was alone in the back office, however, Shiro let himself blush and smile as he thought about Hunk.


	3. Scouting for Dick at Chuck E. Cheese

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets involved with Hunk's attraction to Shiro and the poor single father is screaming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally my favorite chapter, save for the final one. Lance was super fun to write for this!

_Ayo homeboy meet up at CEC?? Need to see my two favorite people -L_

Hunk smirked as he looked at the screen, pulling out the clothes he was about to put into the wash, and picked his phone up to reply back,

_If u insist, you’re the reason Kade gets spoiled u know -H_

_Bruh who else will that’s not you? -L_

Hunk chuckled as he went to get Kade dressed, the little bean had been having some cabin fever over this Fall Break and maybe running around a kids arcade would help. Kade had, of course, cheered when they were told Uncle Lance was meeting up with them at Chuck E. Cheese, barely able to contain themselves as the two loaded into the car, and the six year old happily sang along to one of the top 40 songs playing on the radio as they drove on the highway.

Hunk didn’t know how he could ever thank Lance enough for being his closest best friend throughout everything in his life. They’d watched each other’s backs as they got through middle and high school together, Lance had cheered Hunk on as he worked to get his Associates degree, and Lance had been the first one to stand by his decision of adopting Kade when it felt like everyone else was against it.

To this day he still upheld that same support, he was always willing to take Kade for a while if he wasn’t working, still kept a strong social connection to Hunk even if they were only lucky enough to see each other maybe once or twice every other week, and absolutely _relished_ spoiling Kade (and sometimes Hunk) whenever possible, whether it be ordering pizza in on the weekend when he came over or suggesting they go someplace and he paid for the majority of it. One time he’d even paid for Hunk and Kade’s meal after _they_ had made the choice to go visit him at the diner he worked at (Hunk tried to forcefully shove his card to pay instead but Lance got away with it because Kade had knocked over their milk, he’d swiped his own card as Hunks parental instincts came over him)

Hunk had to learn to stop losing it every time Lance paid for almost _everything_ (they did wind up having an adult conversation about Hunk definitely being able to pay for some things, may or may not have been after the milk incident) because the idiot was far too giving, and had always had the same argument that actually made sense each time it came up; _‘You have yourself and another human being to worry about, I still live with my family and can afford this!’_

Sure Hunk had to pay for bills and groceries and clothing, but it’s not like he had a mortgage to pay (the house had been his childhood home, his parents had signed it over to Hunk after he said he was looking at orphanages) or looming loans and his job covered insurance. Yes, Lance did still live with his family, but it was a family that was close to Cheaper by the Dozen size, and while his diner job was good it was just barely enough to cover for the car he’d bought himself. Maybe he could do regular checkups on Lance’s car, Hunk was more than able to do that, it would help Lance out and be a way to give back for things like this.

He made a note to suggest that idea soon as he pulled into the parking lot, taking note that the tiny blue car Lance owned could use a good washing at least, Hunk was pretty sure someone could write a message in the layer of dirt that had accumulated on the trunk. Hunk made sure to keep a hold of Kade’s hand so the child didn’t get that exact idea either, smiling as he spotted Lance waiting inside beyond the door of the cheery establishment.

There was no stopping Kade as they ran ahead, Hunk letting them, and crying out a series of _Uncle Lance Uncle Lance!_ The child’s loud antics caused Lance to look up from his phone, an eager grin stretching across his face as he met the child halfway. Kade squealed as they got lifted into Lance’s arms, the adult swinging them around and laughing with them as Hunk approached. “There’s my favorite Kade! And my favorite Hunk!” Lance pressed a loud and obnoxious sounding kiss to the top of Kade’s head, causing the child to squeal once more and wiggle in the hold, and shot a smile at Hunk. “How’ve you been dude?” Hunk stepped forward and wrapped the other up in a hug, squeezing for a few seconds before Kade complained about being ‘squish-ed’ and he let go. They focused on getting in to sit and order their food, Kade galloping off with their cup of tokens as Hunk and Lance finally got a chance to sit and talk. “Sooooo Hot Guy from the grocery store works at the program you put Kade in right? How’s that working out for you?”

Hunk rolled his eyes at the other, eyes flicking over to make sure that Kade was still playing that electric jump rope machine, “Nothing much, he’s pretty busy with other parents and when we get a chance to talk it’s mostly about something Kade said or did that day.” He loved seeing the way Shiro’s eyes lit up when he remembered Kade saying a cute phrase, or how they tried to help carry all the games when their group swapped rotations, so often his grey eyes looked stressed and it was good to know there was something that could change that. “I guess I’m just not as good as I was before with flirting.”

Lance slurped at his drink, shrugging at the other, popping off the straw and furrowing his eyebrows. “I mean, if the parents are as bad as you’ve said they are, he probably isn’t feeling too good with his flirting game too. You both need to like, run into each other again somewhere else, like you did at the store.” He waved a hand, pushing his drink to the side, “Somewhere that he’s not stressed and you don’t feel awkward.” Lance stood up, grabbing one of the extra cups of tokens he’d bought, “I’m gonna go walk and play some games, maybe go see about that ticket attendant.”

Hunk blinked and glanced over at the male attendant at the ticket counter, frowning and looking back at the other, “Was the last girl you were interested in not working out? It hasn’t been that long since we last talked like this.”

The Latino shrugged. “It was kind of on a downward spiral, and I cut it off when she made a biphobic comment, that shit is an automatic no for me.” He pointed his thumb and pointer finger at Hunk in a ‘finger gun’ pose, smirking, “Alright, I’m off to hunt for Dick, if you know what I mean. Play some games and don’t worry about your date game though okay? Take out your frustrations on ski ball.” He walked off and Hunk could only sigh in response.

Eventually he did start to walk around, Kade essentially gluing themselves to his side once they saw their Dad up and about, and Hunk was able to forget after a while, there was just something about arcade games that took all your worries away. It was a bonus to earn so many tickets, Kade running off with the large handful their father gave them to have Uncle Lance help put the paper in the ticket machine, leaving Hunk to head back to their table and eat some more of the pizza they ordered.

An abrupt burst in noise caught his attention though, Hunk turning and slightly groaning when he spotted the very large group of kids waiting in the doorway. The last time he and Kade had been somewhere that a field trip group had come through it had been a _nightmare_ to keep an eye out to make sure Kade didn’t get mixed in. He was pretty sure that they’d gotten their fill of single token games and decent pizza, and Hunk was about to text Lance to tell him that, but Hunk got a glance of something that he was _not_ prepared for and now here he was, sitting on the floor, hiding behind an arcade game, and sweating bullets.

_‘Okay, maybe if I get down and crawl I won’t be seen. So it’s just sneaking to the table, wait for Lance and Kade to come back, then book it out of here and not make too much of a fool of myself.’_

“Hunk, what are you doing?” _Of course_ the plan couldn’t even start before it went to shit. Hunk shushed Lance as he looked down at him, seeing that his friend had already bought one of the lollipops at the ticket counter and was licking away at it, confusion clear in his blue eyes as he watched Hunk hiding behind the Deal or No Deal arcade machine.

“Hiding! And where’s Kade?!”

Lance pointed off to the side somewhere, Hunk groaning as he heard those dreaded words come out, “I bought Kade a couple more tokens to try and get some more tickets, they’re a couple short for a prize they want.” His friend raised a curious eyebrow then, “And _why_ are you hiding? Is there a co-worker here or something?” Hunk would’ve gotten into a full stance on his knees with hands clasped to pray to try and stop his best friend from looking around but alas, whatever deities existed frowned upon him this day, Lance simply turned his head, eyes squinting in thought before going wide as dinner plates when he saw who Hunk was avoiding.

Standing over by the register to get in, wearing some t-shirt that matched with the large group behind them getting stamped for entrance and a bulging backpack, talking to the cashier was none other Shiro, who could simultaneously make Hunk weak in the knees yet fear talking to him.

“Oh. _My God._ ”

Lance stared back at Hunk, an awe-struck look on his face, and it was then Hunk realized Lance hadn’t actually _seen_ Shiro yet. Oh god.

“ _Dude_. You didn’t tell me he was _ripped.”_

Hunk buried his face in his hands, voice softly whispering in frantic begging,

“Lance please not now-“

“That shirt is _not_ doing him justice.”

“The shirt is fine just-“

“ _Does he have a fucking scar on his face?!”_

“Watch your mouth there’s _children-_ “

“His chest. _That chest-“_

Hunk groaned in frustration, of all times for this to happen, it _had_ to be when his bi, hyperactive best friend was here. He slumped back against the machine, still covering his face because now he was trying to hide his slowly tearing up eyes from Lance, he’d never felt so helpless and embarrassed,

“Let’s just find Kade and go okay, before he sees me and I make an idiot of my-“

“Oh _no way!_ ”

Hunk’s hands were suddenly pulled away, finally allowing Lance to see his hot blush that went down his neck, quickly blinking his eyes to clear away any tears and staring at the Latino as he said with all seriousness, a weirdly determined look to Lance’s deep blue eyes. “If one of us is going to get serious Dick here, it’s going to be _you_.” Before Hunk could process it he’d been pulled up, shoved in the general direction of the oblivious Shiro, and got a pat on the back and a quick reassurance in his ear. “Go flirt, be a single person, I’ll watch Kade.” He moved around Hunk to go keep Kade occupied, halting and turning back around to firmly grasp the Samoan by the shoulders and lock eyes with him, giving him a confident smile, “Give it a try, I haven’t seen you this head-over-heels in a _long_ time. This is exactly that opportunity you needed! Oh, one more thing, because I know it will happen in the future…” He firmed his look up, staring at Hunk with a serious stare he’d only ever seen maybe once in his life, and stated to him like it was a mission and not just a flirt session:

_“Motorboat him for me and tell me what it’s like.”_

With that Lance was gone, Hunk wanted to scream, and Shiro of course had to glance over then, eyes lighting up when he saw him and waving with a perfect smile. He could only muster a meager smile and a weak wave in return. He was going to _murder_ Lance first chance he got, but not until he thanked him for the pep-talk.

He didn’t get too close at first, since it still looked like Shiro was finishing up whatever business he had to with the cashier, but soon the other male was sending the lady that was his assistant site leader, Allura, back with the group to the party area, and _oh no Shiro was walking towards him oh **oh no-**_

“Hey there! This is a funny place to see each other.”

Okay Hunk could do this. No parents around them making Shiro feel down, no need for him to feel guilt.  Smile, act like it hasn’t been months since he did this, and talk to Shiro. He smiled and nodded, glancing over to see Lance posing with Kade in the photo booth. “Yeah, Kade was getting a bit restless at home and my friend just so happened to see if we wanted to go out and have some fun.” He chuckled as they switched between sticking their tongues out to mock picking their noses to puppy dog eyes and pouts, turning back to Shiro, who had followed Hunks gaze and was looking at the pair too, and blanking as Shiro asked him.

“Forgive me if this is wrong, but are you two dating?”

Hunk blinked, then realized what Shiro meant and shook his head, “Oh no, we talked about it once but there’s no romantic feelings. I’m definitely gay though.”

_‘Why did you say that why did you think you needed to clarify that-’_

Before he could get too far into his panic, Shiro _giggled._ Hunk could only watch as Shiro pressed a fist to his mouth and actually _giggled_ and looked at Hunk with eyes crinkled at the edges from a smile, a smile that _Hunk_ had caused. It took a bit for Shiro to compose himself, his voice noticeably more relaxed when he talked this time, “I’m definitely gay too. I assumed once with two other people and they were definitely _not_ dating, so that’s why I asked.”

Hunk laughed then too, quiet and soft, missing the bright glint that shone in Shiro’s eyes at hearing the noise. Once he straightened up Hunk felt things click, putting on that look he knew had worked plenty of times before, and found himself not completely messing up. “Sounds legit, but it sure seems like you’re checking to see if I’m available to date or not.”

Shiro shot his own flirting look at Hunk, an eyebrow deftly raised and the perfect lilt to his voice, “I could be checking for a ‘friend’, and while we’re on the subject, would you happen to be seeing somebody?” There was just that _hopeful_ edge to that question, Hunk dropping some of his façade to genuinely smile at Shiro.

“That happens to be no, I haven’t in a while . . . but I’m interested in looking for someone.” The energy between them was so soft and gentle, both eager to jump into this but double-checking to see if the other wanted to, and so it led to them laughing, pure and infective-

“Are you both married?”

-which promptly got shattered as they both froze, glancing down to the child who was clearly in Kindergarten, staring back at them with a look that only be comparative to Spongebob asking Squidward if he liked Krabby Patties. Shiro seemed to instantly change from his hopeful-yet-solid-flirting to his I-am-an-adult self, crouching down to the child’s eye level and giving them a questioning look, a smile full of mirth on his face, “What makes you think that, Briley?”

Briley blinked at him owlishly, looking between Shiro and Hunk before shrugging, “Well if you laugh together doesn’t that mean you like each other and are married?”

Hunk had to bite down his snicker, kid logic was _the best_ to hear and see _,_ they were always so serious when they said the most ridiculous reasoning for their claims. Shiro must’ve thought the same as Hunk, his shoulders shaking with hidden laughs before he responded, “Well, you laugh with your friends right? So does that mean you’re married to them?”

Briley’s face twisted into serious thought then, eyebrows furrowed as if she were solving the puzzle of life, before she relaxed. “Okay. Can I go play Mister Shiro?”

Shiro nodded before pointing off to the side, towards what Hunk assumed was the adult in charge of the child, “Of course, go get your tokens from your group leader, if you want any extra tokens go to Miss Allura to get the cash your parents sent with you. You can get more that way once you run out.”

That seemed to be all little Briley wanted, toddling off to their group leader as Shiro stood back up, watching them before turning back to Hunk. He blinked at Hunk, turning a bit sheepish as he rubbed a hand through his hair, “Sorry about that, you know how kids are. I also seem to have some sort of attraction they follow. I can be the one person in the room juggling ten different things at once, while everybody else is sitting around doing nothing, and kids will _still_ walk up and ask _me_ if they can go to the bathroom.”

The imagery was enough to get Hunk to chuckle, shaking his head and waving a hand, “It’s totally fine, I kind of get that feeling,” He had a few moments before where he was either cooking or cleaning or building something, and despite there being Lance or one of their grandparents present Kade would always ask Hunk to open something or play with them. Hunk frowned as he sobered up, once more remembering back to the tired look he saw too often in Shiro’s eyes, “I’m just. . . not used to seeing you so happy or relaxed.”

Shiro’s demeanor seemed to shift just that bit, sighing as he glanced back over the arcade, now dotted with kids wearing matching shirts. “Yeah, it gets tiring after a parent yells at you for the hundredth time over something. Even worse when that something was the last site leader not following rules.” The sad tone quickly went away, Shiro smiling once more as he turned to Hunk, “At least I get a moment of calm with you and some other parents. You guys make it all worth it.”

It felt good to know that some other parents were at least good and not rude to Shiro, while it was nice to know Hunk was one of them he’d feel worse if it was _just_ him. Hunk managed to spot Kade and Lance, in the back corner teaming up on the basketball game, and a considerable pile of tickets sat next to them now too. It would probably be enough for whatever prize Kade was aiming for, and his child was due for a pizza-sugar-gaming induced crash soon. Hunk glanced at Shiro once more, reassured as he saw the other look at ease, and went in for the thing that had his palms sweating, “So uh, I think we both now that ‘friend’ is actually you, and if I haven’t been clear enough I’m _very_ interested in a date. With you, I mean.”

Hunk held his breath, waiting for some kind of response, and nearly screamed with relief when he got a laugh from Shiro. “You have _no idea_ how relieved I am to hear that.”

So Hunk watched as Shiro scrawled out the number he was told onto his left hand, raising his eyebrow at the random numbers all across the side and inner wrist of it, waved goodbye to him, and walked in a daze to the ticket counter where Kade was eagerly jumping to point at the prize they wanted, and Lance was subtly trying to flirt with the guy reaching for the toy pointed out. Lance immediately stopped once Hunk walked over, rushing over to grab at his shoulders, hopeful look on his face, “How’d it go? _How’d it go?!_ ”

A buzz kept Hunk from answering, pulling out his phone and nearly wheezing as he read the notification,

_Hey this is Shiro! :) the best time for a date would be during the weekend, and I’m always good for whatever, I can come up with some ideas if you don’t have any._

That was enough answer for Lance, who immediately whooped and slung an arm around Hunk’s shoulders, “See?! I told you! Look at you now, not letting your dreams be dreams.” Hunk snorted, shoving the other away.

“Okay you were right, you proved me wrong, happy?”

“What are you wild guys talking about?”

They looked down to Kade then, their arms wrapped tight around a ball that was covered in gaudy, shiny purple and green fabric, and Lance leaned down to smile at them. “Your _papi_ is going on a date with Mister Shiro! Yay!” Lance threw his arms out for emphasis on the ‘yay’, although his happy demeanor went away and his arms dropped along with Hunks as Kade’s eyes went wide and quickly teared up. “Kade? _Conjito_? What’s wrong?”

Hunk was quickly going through their conversation, trying to see what could’ve upset Kade, but was not prepared as his child tearfully asked, “D-does this-Does this mean that-that I can’t stay with Daddy?”

Hunk _immediately_ swooped down to pick Kade up in his arms, ball dropping to the ground as he pulled his child close, firmly looking Kade in the eyes and reassuring them. “It doesn’t, no, remember what I promised you? You’ll never have to worry about changing homes again. I’m your forever family, okay? I’m your Daddy and you’re my child, always.”

The child nodded, eyes still wet but drying them when their face smushed into his shoulder, arms wrapping tight around Hunk. He looked up and spotted Lance, the ball Kade picked balanced on his hip as he looked at the child worryingly.

“I’m sorry Kade, Uncle Lance didn’t mean to make you feel sad. Your _papi’s_ nice and always loves you, he’d never give you up or let you leave.” He made eye contact with Hunk then, smiling sheepishly. Hunk just smiled and waved it off, Kade had the occasional fear that they would go back to being alone again, but like hell Hunk would let that happen. He’d reassure the poor buddy every time that fear came up.

“We should head out now, I think they’re starting to crash.” From the way Kade was going slack in his hold, Hunk could bet they’d pass out during the drive home. “Thanks for calling out to us; this is probably the quietest they’ve been this whole break.”

Lance clapped a hand on Hunk’s back as they walked towards the exit, ball shining as the light outside reflected off it, “Anytime my dude, for my favorite people.”

-

Shiro watched as Hunk left, Kade in his arms and looking very worn out, chatting with his friend as they walked through the doors. A tap on his shoulder drew Shiro’s attention, turning and ready to help the next kid, groaning as he was met with Allura’s _very overeager_ face instead. “So? What happened with you two? You were laughing a lot and Briley interrupted you.” Shiro sighed, half considered his next action, then held up his left hand for Allura to see. She stared at it for a moment, look calculating before she realized the string of numbers that weren’t meant to be their count on kids. “ _Oh my god._ You did it! _You finally did it!_ ” Shiro could only cover his eyes as Allura acted more like one of their kids winning a game than the composed assistant site leader she was supposed to be, complete with jumping around and whooping. It only got worse as two of the third grade girls ran over, asking why Allura was acting so weird, and Shiro couldn’t help but blush as Allura plainly told them that _Mister Shiro has a boooooyfrieeeeend!_ He just wanted to die even more when Coran joined in, his one-on-one laughing and starting to hang off of Shiro for the tenth time that day. He still smiled down at the number every chance he got, and sadly watched it fade away as he washed his hands throughout the rest of the day.


	4. Adult Date with an Unexpected Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things don't go as planned, but when has that ever stopped anybody?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter features one of the lovely pieces that [teicakes](http://teicakes.tumblr.com/post/163734329770/skipped-a-few-steps-a-super-adorable-shunk-fic) made for this story!!!

A week or two passed before both Hunk and Shiro finally found the time and energy to seriously discuss a date and time for the two of them, and they’d decided on a dinner and a visit to an art gallery that was touring through the closest city. It was a bit of a fancier idea that Hunk was used to, but he enjoyed dates and wasn’t going to argue.

Dates had been one of Hunk’s favorite parts about relationships, before he made his life decision and adopted.  He’d enjoyed the sudden and hastily thrown together dates, the planned weeks in advanced dates, and especially quick outings that turned into dates.

It was so easy before to choose a place and time and date, it had been relatively stress free save for any nerves Hunk had beforehand. He had thought throwing in getting a babysitter and setting Kade up for his time away would throw a monkey wrench into everything but it was surprisingly simple. Hunk had found a babysitter through his neighbor’s cousin that was looking for extra cash, and while they had been pouty at first Kade had been okay with Hunk going to have some ‘adult time’ with Shiro. He almost couldn’t believe his stroke of luck until it abruptly ended at the worst possible moment.

_I’m sorry Mr. Garrett I’m afraid I can’t watch Kade anymore. -M_

Hunk stared at his phone in disbelief, leaving Kade free to splash water out onto the bathroom floor. He quickly sent a message asking if there really wasn’t any possible way to come before focusing back on Kade, quietly reprimanding them and to stop the splashing. This only led to a whole stressful ten minutes as Hunk tried to balance communicating on the phone with the babysitter and making sure Kade didn’t absolutely ruin the bathroom with soapy water, which ended in a giggly Kade but no more babysitter.

_‘Okay now don’t panic, maybe Lance can watch them.’_

A quick phone call quickly nipped that in the bud.

_“I can’t this time, the diner’s really short right now, we had two people that we just hired that haven’t shown up since training, they’re probably gonna flake and leave soon. I’m really sorry Hunk, I wish I could help.”_

Hunk bit back the disappointment, Lance had already done so much in regards to helping with Kade, and he knew how much the homely diner meant to his best friend.

“It’s totally fine, you go work now okay? Hopefully you get promoted or something soon.”

The moment the call ended Hunk let himself sink even further into the worn out couch that he’d sat on, eyes going up to stare at the living room ceiling and trying not to let the hopeless feeling in his chest grow and burst and consume him. His phone rumbled in his hand, and he groaned as he saw the eager message from Shiro,

_Hey! Excited for tonight? ;) -S_

Oh no, here it goes. Hunk sighed in defeat, fingers slowly tapping out a response and sending it.

_I was, but the babysitter I had suddenly dropped, and I’ve been scrambling for a replacement but I haven’t found anybody. I’m really sorry I don’t think I can do tonight now. -H_

It hurt to admit that, and Hunk was set to go curl up and cry a bit before Kade woke up from their nap, but a flurry of texts stopped him, and his jaw nearly fell off at what he saw.

_Oh -S_

_Wait -S_

_I know you were looking forward to time without Kade -S_

_But I wouldn’t mind if they were on the date with us? -S_

_If I had to pick a child to be there for a date Kade would be the top pick, they’re adorable and hilarious -S_

There was the smallest of pauses before the typing started again, and Hunk couldn’t stop the blush as the message was received.

_Just like their father :) -S_

_We could go to the park for a bit so Kade can run around -S_

_We can talk while they’re playing, it won’t be over dinner -S_

_But any time with you would be amazing -S_

Hunk couldn’t handle this, he had to grab a pillow and shove his face into it to keep from outright _screaming_ in joy. This was too good to be true. Shiro was too good to be true. He managed to compose himself enough to finally respond to the texts, having to take a bit to make sure the message wasn’t typo ridden from how much his fingers were shaking from glee.

_That would be BEYOND perfect! I could bring some food too so we can have a picnic? I can get some sandwiches together! -H_

_That sounds good! I cannot wait. -S_

_Kade always talks about how yummy your food is -S_

_They always play Master Chef when in our pretend corner -S_

Oh god he could imagine that now, Kade trying to sound like Gordon Ramsay and pulling the other kids into it. Hunk could only hope that Kade also didn’t talk like Gordon Ramsay did.

_Oooooh boy >_> -H_

_So see you at 4? -H_

_Of course ;) -S_

Hunk took a moment to be thankful for having met someone like Shiro, so fully understanding and willing to switch things around to make things work, then went off to wake Kade up with the good news. You could say Kade was _more than excited_ to find out they were coming with.

-

Hunk and Kade arrived at the park at 3:50 pm on the dot, having arrived so early to set up the picnic they’d put together under one of the trees. Hunk relaxed back on the grass, watching as Kade ran around with a large bubble wand, while he waited for Shiro to arrive. He couldn’t help the doubts he was having, checking his phone every thirty seconds and just waiting in fear of a sudden text to come through from Shiro saying that _whoops turns out I don’t want to do this I’m just gonna wait until the last minute to tell you this though_ and so it was a surprise when Hunk jumped as he heard someone call out to him. He looked and sure enough, there was Shiro, smiling and-oh god he was wearing a tight short sleeved shirt _why did Shiro have really good biceps-_ waving as he walked closer. Kade immediately squealed, then ran towards Shiro, running into him and causing the man to fake being winded from the ‘heavy’ blow.

Soon the two made their way over, Hunk standing up and meeting them halfway, Kade giggling as Shiro lifted them up with his right arm, Hunk doing his best not to stare at the flexing muscle as Shiro began to have a conversation with him,

“Sorry if I was late, I didn’t expect you to be so early.”

Hunk laughed, waving a hand, “We wanted time to find a good spot and set up, it’s become second nature now to get to places early anyways.” He now fully understood why his mother used to get on Hunk’s case anytime they were late, even as he’d grown up too. Shiro furrowed his eyebrows in thought, tapping a flesh finger to his lips,

“Huh, you’d think I’d have that same thought process too. I’ve worked in childcare for five years now and I still manage to be late to a ton of things, including our regular day to day schedule.”

Hunk only shook his head, then noticed numbers on the back of Shiro’s left hand that were similar to before, back at Chuck E Cheese’s. Hunk curiously pointed at the numbers that dotted Shiro's hand, fingertip just barely brushing the skin. "What's that on your hand? I saw something like this back during Fall Break."

Shiro blinked in confusion, having to pull his hand away and stare at the back of his flesh and blood limb for a solid moment, before exclaiming softly, "Oh, yeah, this is just how I do our afternoon count, before rotations. Allura normally calls the roll and I run around each table and count heads. It's a weird short-term memory quirk I have, I'm bad at remembering numbers off the top of my head and my eyes work faster than my brain can. I've done this as long as. . ."

Both somehow knew to look at his prosthetic, the sun glinting off its grey outer shell.

"As long as what?"

Both adults stared down at the child, Kade blinking at them with owlish eyes, standing on their tiptoes as they continued to hold onto Shiro’s fake limb. Shiro seemed to brush it off easily, using his free hand to ruffle their hair up even further.

"Nothing kiddo, it's not important. Could you let go now? I’m dying to have some of your Dad’s food."

Kade seemed to consider it for a moment, and Hunk was about to speak up and tell his child to let go, but the youngest of the three quickly demanded, “Tell me how you got this first!”

Hunk could literally _die right now._ When had his child ever thought they could say stuff like this?! Once again, before Hunk could reprimand, this time _Shiro_ beat him to it, surprised as the other crouched down and fixed Kade with a wary look. “Are you _sure_ you want to hear how I got this? It’s a _very scary story._ ” Kade seemed to hesitate for a moment, but nodded nonetheless. Shiro gave a dramatic sigh. “Okay, you asked.”

Hunk was feeling very out of the loop, and could only watch as the person he was interested in leaned into his child’s ear and whispered, Kade’s eyes going super wide, then they blinked and giggled as Shiro pulled back. “That didn’t happen Mister Shiro!” there was a brief pause in their speech, eyes flashing quickly to worry, “Right?” the only response they got was a shrug, and once more Kade’s eyes widened. They quickly turned to Hunk, and loudly stated; “ _I don’t trust toasters anymore!_ ” then ran off, picking their bubble wand back up and continuing to make giant bubbles.

Hunk stared after his child, and then turned to stare at Shiro, who was biting his lip on a grin.

“Wh-what did you tell them?”

Shiro just chuckled and placed a hand on Hunk’s back (he tried to ignore the way his heart beat just a bit harder when he felt that press), “Just something I tell kids who ask, nothing graphic so don’t worry.” He striked up a different conversation then, distracting Hunk from asking further questions as they walked to the picnic spot.

It was definitely the most unique date Hunk had ever been on, and probably to others too as they watched the three picnic with sandwiches, homemade chips, and lemonade from scratch. Hunk and Shiro hardly found time to talk and get to know each other more as Kade very much took both of their attentions. Kade was giving them both a run for their money, the moment the food was gone they’d raced off to the playground, and prompting the two to follow and make sure they didn’t get hurt or lost. Then it was “Daddy push me!” or “Mister Shiro climb with me!” as Kade ran about, over the monkey bars and through the swings and under playground sets until the two barely had the breath to talk.

Eventually there was a moment of calm, the two adults managing to wrangle the child onto a park bench so they could take a breather, Kade happily kicking their legs as Hunk and Shiro were doubled over, panting. Shiro was the first to sit back up, smiling as he glanced to Hunk, “I have to say, it’s _far_ easier to keep an eye on one child than forty of them.”

Hunk made some sort of sound in reply, a mix between a wheeze and a groan, also pushing himself up to sit, “I don’t even _want_ to know what watching forty kids is like.” He side-eyed Kade, gauging how much more energy they had. They seemed to have gotten most of it out, and could probably do something quieter now. They’d only been at the park for a solid hour, and even though Shiro had been fine with it, Hunk really wanted to do something more than chase his child around a playground. It was only turning to five now. He turned to look at Shiro then, still somehow perfect looking despite Kade trying to _literally_ climb his body, pulling on a flannel button down on as a cold gust blew by,

“So. . . I know it’s a great time running around a playground, but if you wanted to, we could do something else?”

Shiro blinked as Hunk made the suggestion, going into a deep thought before he looked down at Kade. “How about a movie? I can’t remember the last time I went to one that wasn’t a field trip.”

Kade instantly lit up, turning to Hunk and eagerly leaning onto him, “Can we Daddy? Can we _please?_ ” Sitting for two hours and eating popcorn sounded perfect.

“Sounds like a solid plan, we can take my car since Kade’s still in a carseat, and we can come back later so you can get your car.” Hunk stood, picking Kade up too and settling them onto his shoulders, Kade giggling as Shiro stood too. They began to make their way out of the park, Kade pointing out every single bug and bird and a large flock that flew overhead for Hunk to see as Shiro ran to grab their picnic basket and told Hunk he would pay for everything at the movies. Before Hunk could try and protest Kade shyly asked Mister Shiro if they could have cotton candy at the movies please, Shiro looking at Hunk with a shrug.

Hunk nodded, Kade cheered, and Shiro laughed.

-

-

It was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night at the movie theater, a distinct lack of people overall as the unlikely trio made their way into the theater, Kade taking their steps carefully as they carried their kiddie popcorn tray and drink while Hunk and Shiro held the door open for them, the both of them carrying a bag of popcorn, a cotton candy bag, and their own drinks.

“It’s okay buddy, if any popcorn spills we have more we can give you.”

Kade nodded but kept walking slowly, finally making it past the two adults and onto the walkway that would take them to their seats, “I can do it Daddy, I could have tooken the cotton candy too.”

Hunk smiled and shook his head, following behind them towards the seats, “Taken little buddy.” He made a surprised sound as the three looked around the wide theatre, immediately pointing down to the bottom row of seats, the floor in front of it wide open almost like a stage. “It’s the big theater Kade, do you want to sit at the bottom?”

Kade gasped and nodded furiously, now starting to carefully make their way down the stairs, Shiro looking at Hunk with an eyebrow raised in question, “The bottom row? I can see why for leg room, but it feels like there some other reason for it.”

Now Hunk was the one making Shiro confused, Hunk biting down a laugh as he just gestured Shiro to follow him. “You’ll see, just wait until Kade finds out what movie we picked.”

That only made Shiro’s other eyebrow raise with the other, wondering what it was about the Trolls movie and Kade that would surprise him.

Que the opening logos that showed the classic Dreamworks boy in the moon , the harmonies of unseen brightly colored trolls, and a startlingly loud cry from the child sitting between Shiro and Hunk. From that moment on Shiro now understood what Hunk meant.

Kade had gone from quiet, calm, slightly kicking their legs in their seat to bouncing, giggling, and loudly talking along with the movie, quoting lines and mimicking the characters actions, and of course singing along to the songs. Shiro had been fully prepared to sit through a movie he’d already seen on a fieldtrip with the bonus of not having to watch kids, but he got so much more with Kade’s added interactions. He kept on thinking it couldn’t get any better until Kade stood out of their seat to dance and sing along with Poppy as she sang _Get Back Up Again_ , then Kade’s soulful rendition of _Total Eclipse of the Heart_ in tune with Branch topped that, which quickly got replaced by Kade pretending to skate along with the two child Bergens.

But nothing, _nothing,_ prepared Shiro for the finale.

The Trolls had just saved themselves and were trying to help the Bergens find true happiness. The familiar starting notes to the summer’s most popular song rang out. Kade squealed and stood, running to the center of the mock stage and took position. The moment Poppy and Branch began to sing, Kade busted out into a choreographed dance, far too good for a six year old to put together. Shiro recognized it as something the other kids would dance together to often, [likely a video from the GoNoodle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhfkYzUwYFk) program that schools were starting to use.

It was the most adorable, purest thing Shiro had seen to date. Kade’s laughter rang out through the theater, their smile brighter than the screen exploding with color, this was truly a child free of worries and concerns and the happiest one could be.

He jumped as he heard the shifting of seats, looking to the side and seeing Hunk now seated next to him, a wide smile on his lips.

“Aren’t you glad I didn’t tell you?”

Shiro barked out a laugh at that, turning back to watch Kade as they struck a final pose and cheered, bouncing around and running back to throw themselves onto Hunk. The two laughed, Kade nuzzling their head into Hunk’s shoulder as he squeezed them close, a look of pure adoration and love in Hunk’s eyes as he looked down at his child. Shiro almost felt like he was intruding on a private moment, but it quickly ended as Kade perked up at the song changing to _September_ , now directing their smile at Shiro,

“Dance Mister Shiro! Dance with me and Daddy!”

Shiro blinked, that second seeming to be enough for the two to suddenly disappear out of the seats and move onto the mock stage floor, Kade giggling as Hunk helped them twirl around. Hunk’s eyes met his, and he gave him a solemn smile, “You don’t have to, we just like to dance to this song. It’d be fun if you did though!” there was a teasing lilt to that last sentence, and Shiro sent his own teasing smirk back,

“Well that just sounds like a challenge, and consider it taken.”

So that was how their first date went; changed at the last minute from an intimate, elegant, romantic night to one that was loud, unpredictable, but still intimate in the way that Shiro saw the relationship between Hunk and Kade. The unconditional love between parent and child, how they bounced off each other, and how they didn’t even hesitate to show it even when in such close space with Shiro. They danced to the music, Kade twirled around the two and demanded to be picked up, and when they weren’t obliging the child they wrapped their arms around each other, laughing and sharing space where they could lean in and kiss.

Shiro was shocked at the feeling that bloomed in his chest, the want to see more of this, to become a _part_ of this, to spend more moments like this with the two and have them see him the same way.

As they walked back out to Hunk’s car, Shiro carrying Kade in his arms because the poor child had begun to pass out when Hunk slipped to the bathroom, he hoped they wanted to spend more time with him too. So when they got back to the park, the stars winking in the sky as Kade snoozed away in the backseat, Shiro let that be know.

“I really loved this Hunk, I know it wasn’t what we had planned, but I think it’s better it happened this way.” He was leaning on the open car window, his breath mingling with Hunk’s, the both just on that edge of brushing lips but holding back, as if they were each waiting for that right moment. Hunk chuckled, pushing his bangs out of his eyes, giving Shiro a better look at his chocolate eyes.

“I don’t think dates that include your child are heard of very often, but I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m glad you were so flexible with this.”

As if he could forsee the apology, Shiro stopped it before it could come out, reaching a hand out to rest on Hunk’s that rested on the steering wheel, “Don’t worry about it, you had no other options. Honestly, if all the rest of our dates were like this, I wouldn’t complain. Maybe if the dates go as long as we want them to, we’ll probably want to start having certain dates without Kade there and we both know how those would go.”

Hunk snorted at the bluntness, Shiro joining in as they snickered, Hunk once more putting on that flirty look from before and aiming it at Shiro. “So, is that a yes for another date?”

Shiro hummed in mock thought, which quickly broke into a laugh, “You know it. Kade or no Kade I want to. Speaking of, you need to get them back home and into bed.” Hunk looked at his rearview mirror to reaffirm that Kade was still sleeping, and turned to agree to the sentiments before Shiro’s lips were suddenly on his own.

The kiss was soft and limited thanks to the awkward spot they were in, but Hunk still found himself dazed as Shiro pulled away, a genuine smile on his face. He pulled away, waving his prosthetic at him, “Guess I’ll see you Monday then, have a good weekend.”

Hunk watched as Shiro walked back to his car, only one thought on his mind as he fumbled to shift into reverse,

_Monday can’t come any faster._


	5. An Actual Adult Date (plus Kade gets in trouble)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things get a bit deep, and Hunk does what he can to confront it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things take on a heavier tone here, you can expect the rest of the fic to be like this until the final one

Hunk had really thought things would be good today, his boss had been kind enough to let him off early, Pidge had agreed to babysit Kade after Hunk’s first babysitter failure and would be coming over at six, and the cherry on top was the fact that he was finally going on a proper date with Shiro.

He wasn't going to deny the nervousness that climbed up his throat, because it had been at least a year since he'd last been in a relationship, maybe even longer since he'd last been alone with another adult without having to keep an eye on his kid, but he kept reminding himself that this time it was somebody who worked with kids, actually enjoyed being around them, and the potential for this to end in heart break was incredibly slim.

Jamming out to some Fall Out Boy as he pulled up to the school was also helping his mood, pausing the song as he turned his car off, and walked with a pep in his step as he approached the door, ready to get home so-

Kade was sitting on the floor at the front desk, looking as if they would rather be dying, while Shiro sat cross-legged next to them, his firm shoulders giving off an authoritative vibe Hunk hadn't seen before, and it hit him. Kade had gotten in trouble. Of course they had once or twice during school, but not during the aftercare.

Hunk took a moment to breath in and out, feeling his good vibe leaving with it, before pulling the door open, keeping a neutral face as he looked over at the two. "Hey buddy, did something happen?"

His child looked up, their doe eyes widening and glistening with tears, chin wobbling as they looked up at him. Shiro smiled in sympathy, gently ruffling a hand through their messy hair. "Okay, go get your stuff; I'll talk with your Dad."

Kade nodded solemnly, sniffling as they stood up and walked out into the hallway, to the cafeteria where all the kids left their things while they went through rotations. Hunk crossed his arms as he waited for Shiro to stand up, the site leader letting out an airy breath. "Probably not the best thing to walk in to."

"Not really, no. Be honest with me, okay?"

Shiro nodded, his hand gesturing out to the hallway, in the general direction Kade had gone. "Before I say anything else, I want you to understand that Kade was just standing up for me." The words took Hunk partially by surprise, listening as Shiro continued. "I'd just finished roll call and had to leave to do something else, and apparently when I left the 4th and 5th graders started to loudly talk about how much they didn't like me. Kade, sweet little Kade, started to yell at them to stop, and when they didn't listen I guess Kade figured that throwing Legos would make them stop.

Hunk couldn't help the smile, just imaging the colorful blocks arcing through the air as they rained onto some bratty older kids, Shiro mirroring it back. "I had to take a moment to laugh too. That was when Allura went back in and saw what was happening. They all got chewed out on the spot by her, and I had to talk to the other kids before I had my talk with Kade."

"So you finished that as I walked in?"

"Yeah, I didn't have them fill out a behavior sheet, since it was relatively harmless and they were doing it because they cared."

Hunk let out a sigh of relief, carding his hand through his hair. “Thank god, I haven't figured out how I should discipline if they did one of those forms yet."

They both laughed, both turning their heads back as they heard a loud hiccup, the child they'd been talking about standing in the doorway, hunching over so they looked just a bit smaller. Hunk inwardly groaned as he put on his parent face, gently calling Kade over. The 1st grader slowly walked to them, sniffling as they leaned into Hunk’s leg. He kept his voice firm, but used his hand to pull his kid closer to let them know he wasn’t mad. “Mr. Shiro told me what happened. Did you apologize for throwing things?”

They nodded, burying their head even further into his clothes. Shiro crouched down, gently touching a hand on Kade’s shoulder. “I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but from now on don’t worry about it. I’m a Big Boy. I can handle people saying mean things about me by myself.” Kade nodded again, looking over at Shiro with sad eyes no child should have, muttering out a watery ‘okay’. Shiro smiled and opened his arms out. “No hard feelings buddy?” Kade shook their head, leaving the comfort of their father’s hold to accept the hug, Shiro giving the child a quick squeeze before letting go, lightly poking their cheek good-naturedly. “See you tomorrow, okay?”

They nodded, hand rubbing at their eyes as they stepped back over to Hunk, their other hand reaching up to clutch at a hand. Shiro straightened up, flashing a tiny smile. “See you at dinner then?”

Hunk chuckled, nodding as he walked them over to the door, a sly look on his face. “Yeah I guess, not like you made my kid cry or anything.”

Shiro rolled his eyes, Hunk muffling his chuckle with his free hand, opening the door for the two as they walked out to the car. Hunk stayed quiet as they walked out, waiting until he had to help the other into their purple car seat before asking. “So, I got to hear what Mr. Shiro said happened, but I’d still like to hear your side. Why did you think you needed to yell at those older kids?”

The six-year-old's face fell, falling back into their car seat as Hunk buckled them in. "They always never listen, even when Mister Shiro asks politely, or Miss Allura. When they left the room to do something, they started to say mean stuff like _'_ They never let us do anything' and 'Mister Shiro should just go away' and 'I hope my Dad yells at him again'."

Hunk almost couldn't believe what was being said, but he didn't raise a liar or somebody who just stood by. He remembered back to that first day, where even then parents had been rude and yelling over the smallest things, and he truly felt worry for the first time over somebody he genuinely didn't know a lot about. That would change tonight though. Hunk hummed to give himself some time, pretending he had to pull the straps a bit tighter before he looked back at Kade. “That was some mean things they said, and I know you don’t like hearing that sort of stuff, but Mr. Shiro was right. Next time, you need to let him handle it.”

Kade nodded once more, staring down at their lap as Hunk closed the door, going to his side and climbing in to start the car up. He took one glance up at his rearview mirror, seeing his child stare dejectedly out the window, and sighed as his resolve broke. He grabbed his phone where he’d left it plugged in, scrolling through it before selecting the right song. The starting notes playing as they pulled out, smiling when he looked back up and saw Kade blinking as they recognized the song, a tiny smile finally growing on their face.

By the time they got back home, Kade was laughing and singing loudly and Hunk had joined them, the song helping them pick their moods back up again.

Take that, sadness!

-

"Okay uh, lemme think, numbers are on the fridge, Kade's dinner is already in the microwave, they're cleaned and ready for bed-"

"Uh, Mr. Garrett?"

"-just make sure you turn the fan on two clicks, _only two clicks_ , and the night light has to be turned on _before_ the main light turns off-"

"Mr. Garrett!"

Pidge finally got Hunk out of his run-on blabbering, the older man shooting a sheepish look at the seventeen year old. "Sorry, you're like, the first official babysitter, the only other person that's watched Kade has known them since I adopted them, I'm just more nervous than I should be."

Pidge held back the eye roll they really wanted to give, Hunk was actually one of the nice parents among the rest that were pretty bad, and it wouldn't do to have the one of the few patient people not like the teenager anymore. "It's okay. I’m a good listener, I heard it all the first time you said it."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

They both left the kitchen, Pidge settling down next to Kade on the couch as they played on the game pad in their hands. "Okay Kade, I need you to listen buddy." The child hesitantly paused, glancing up at their father as he addressed them. "I'm gonna be gone for a while, okay? Like, long enough that I can't put you to bed. But it’s okay, Pidge is here, and they're gonna make sure you're safe all night long, got it? I even told them about the nightlight." Kade had peeked over at Pidge then, an odd look in their eyes as the babysitter awkwardly smiled and waved. "Don't try and stay up now, alright? I'll see you in the morning."

The child nodded, quickly standing up on the couch and holding their arms out for a hug, which Hunk happily obliged to give, both saying goodbye and good night before the adult left, waving and blowing one last kiss before the front door shut behind them.

Pidge sighed in relief as the door closed, leaning back into the couch, they always got weirdly nervous when parents were trying to leave, it was something they still couldn't explain or understand. Working the front desk seemed to be different though, there was none of that weird lingering around that happened. Most parents were pretty fast, most times they had trouble making sure the child got signed out. The babysitter turned to the babysat, ready to offer up a one-on-one game match, only to be startled at the chocolate doe eyes that stared back at them. "Um, hi?"

Pidge had actually been excited to babysit Kade, they'd seen the child everyday being unapologetic about who they were, and it made them wish they could've been that brave back in elementary school, but there was going to be problems if they didn't stop staring with those big eyes.

Kade blinked a few times, before whispering of all things,

"Daddy called you they."

Pidge almost didn't want to respond, in awe at the pure emotion showing on the child’s face, having to lean in a bit closer as they continued to whisper, "Just like me?"

Pidge slowly smiled, nodding as they offered a hand out. "Just like you."

Kade's entire face lit up further, reaching up to grab the offered hand, and holy shit Pidge had to protect them. No harm could come to this sweet nonbinary child. “So, you up for a versus match?” They eagerly nodded, scrambling off the couch as they went to get a game controller, Pidge sitting back and thinking back to earlier.

Shiro had been itching to leave work, and had almost cried when the last kid got picked up at 5:30, a half hour before they had to close instead of the normal 6 o’ clock closing time that’d been going on for the past while. He’d nearly bowled them over to the clock, and it was probably the fastest he’d ever left work.

Allura had only laughed along with Coran, having been the ones to tell him to go on ahead while they finished locking up. Coran had twisted his mustache as he commented, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man that eager about a date.”

As Kade came back, politely offering the game pad because Pidge was the babysitter and could be first player, the teenager couldn’t help but hope the date went better than planned. They couldn’t think of two more lovey-dovey idiots that deserved each other, especially if one of them was the father to this pretty amazing kid.

-

The temperature had dropped just the slightest bit as the sky turned multiple colors during sundown, the chill pressing at Hunk’s cheeks as the stars came out when he arrived at the restaurant Shiro had suggested they go to. He was definitely feeling nerves this time. While their last date had been fun, it had mostly centered on things related to Kade, and left little room for him and Shiro to talk about themselves.

This was the first chance for the both of them to really get to know more about each other and Hunk was both excited and slightly terrified.

“Hunk! Over here!”

Hunk paused and looked around, heart jumping as his eyes finally landed on Shiro, seated in one of the outside waiting areas, quickly hurrying to sit on the cushioned bench next to him, more than breathless from his short jog over, “Hey there, fancy seeing you here.”

Shiro grinned, brushing his bangs out of his face to get a better look at him, “Guess that’s our thing huh? Always running into each other, especially on dates.”

Hunk laughed, bright and full of mirth, “Oh you bet. I assume you already got us a table?”

Shiro nodded, leaning back into the seat and letting his body relax, “It’ll be a while longer though, it’s really busy tonight. I put it in a half hour ago and they said it’d be at least an hour and a half. How terrible, you’re gonna have to spend so much time talking and flirting with me.”

Hunk faked a gasp, narrowing his eyes in mock suspicion at Shiro, “How did you know my whole plan for the night?”

They both laughed at the ridiculousness of their words, quickly calming and finding a small release from the nerves both had. They both unconsciously moved closer together as a cold breeze blew past, Shiro breaking the comfortable silence, “So, in all seriousness, I do want to talk and get to know you more. At least past everything with Kade, I’ve gotten to know that part of you really well.”

Hunk nodded, it was odd to talk about himself after so long. Kade had been a pretty central focus to his life for the past year, it was sort of nice to have the attention on him. “Well, to start with, I work as an engineer technician, really long hours which explains why I have Kade in the program-“ Aaaaand he couldn’t go one sentence without mentioning Kade.

Shiro lightly snickered beside him, shooting him an understanding look and placing his hand over the hand Hunk had on his own knee. “How about I ask questions? What do you do as an engineer technician? Do you oversee anything or are you hands on?”

It was easy to talk with Shiro after that, they talked about the rest of Hunk’s family, the island he had been born on before his mother and father moved them to the states, his friendship with Lance, and they’d just started to talk about schooling.

“-so that’s when I realized pursuing something in engineering worked best with the future plans I wanted to enact. I got my associates degree, one of Lance’s uncles helped me find my current workplace, and that’s pretty much it.” Hunk smiled as he remembered the uncle, he had always commented on how smart Hunk was and that he needed to put it to good use. He was forever thankful to him. “After working there for two months I realized I was actually in a pretty good spot to have a kid like I wanted. The pay is good, the insurance covers me and Kade, and although my parents were reluctant they signed their home over to me when they moved back to Samoa. They love Kade though, and enjoy Skyping to talk with them. They were talking about visiting soon.”

Shiro had been nothing but absorbed as Hunk talked, only asking the odd question for clarification or to ask a new topic. He began to look wistful as Hunk talked about college, and had stayed quiet as Hunk finished up. Hunk then began to wonder if Shiro had gone to college too, did his job even require a degree?

“I think I’ve talked about myself enough, how about you? How was your schooling Shiro?”

Shiro blinked as the focus was now put on him, making a noise of contemplation as he pushed a hand up through his hair, “Well, I had plans to attend college. That changed though, I’m half considering going and trying to get something with early childhood development. My job doesn’t require it, but I think you get a pay increase and it looks better if you do have something. You just need a high school diploma though.”

Hunk made a small sound that he heard what he said, there was something hidden to the way Shiro said _that changed though,_ and that left Hunk with a question as he thought about Shiro whispering to Kade how he lost his arm. A question he didn’t feel like he should say, so instead he asked something that seemed more appropriate, "So what got you into childcare in the first place? You probably get that a lot though-"okay no this seemed like a bad question too, but Shiro shook his head, smiling to encourage the question,

"Nobody words it like that, it's normally something like 'What's a guy like you doing working with children?' or 'Ever considered something different?' and that irks me more than anything. I've always just enjoyed working with children." He glanced down at his prosthetic in thought, rubbing his other hand over it. "I started out as a student worker, like Pidge, and before then I'd babysat multiple times. Sometimes it was just easier to talk with kids than adults, they always had way more interesting things to say. I still love swinging kids around when I can in the gym. I used to do that with this one kid I regularly babysat for when I was fourteen."

The warmth and fondness that radiated through his voice really touched Hunk; he'd been the same way growing up, although engineering had drawn his interest more than childcare had. He couldn't help but glance down at the prosthetic too, a question niggling to be asked but felt like it'd be digging too deep.

"It's not as easy now with this, but it's a nice workout doing it one handed though."

"I can see what you mean. . ."

An awkward silence stretched after that, and Hunk felt bad because he knew he'd been staring at the arm, and he wanted to ask but didn't want to be rude. "I don't mind if you ask about the arm, I'd rather people be upfront than beat around the bushes."

Hunk let out a small and sheepish laugh, glancing back up at the others steely grey eyes. "Sorry, yeah, it's feels like a weird line to cross sometimes. Did it happen before or after you started at the program?"

Shiro nodded, looking back down as he flexed his arm. "After. I'd been working for a few months, it was just before I would graduate and move up to a group leader position. I had just been in the city with one of my friends when we got stuck in a messy situation."

Hunk kept quiet, keeping an eye out for any clear signs of discomfort, but listening attentively as Shiro continued. "We were at an art gallery as a part of some senior extra credit, and then this guy ran in with a homemade pipe bomb, claiming he'd set it off unless some demands were met. Guess it goes to show you how much I love my job, I can't remember anything in that moment except looking over at this group of kids that were there on a field trip and realizing that they were all in real danger. At some point the security guards had already been taken out, and everybody was on the verge of major panic. I was behind him, and realized I could pull them into the other room and away from everyone else.” His eyes had gone foggy, simply staring at nothing as his voice continued, having gone into a monotone, Hunk’s gut dropping as he knew where this retelling was going. "My friend tried to stop me, but I knew I had to move right then or a lot of people would die. I lunged at him and wrestled them into the next room. I got a grip on the bomb, but they wouldn't let go, and one of us hit the switch. I can't remember much more past that, I think I was concussed but. . . I was like, vacantly aware my arm was gone, and was just glad it didn't happen in the other room."

Silence stretched between them, only filled by the whistle of the wind as it blew past the two, Shiro trying to bring himself back and Hunk thinking of what to ask next to try and distract. "Did the kids miss you while you were out? Where you student worked, I mean."

Shiro looked back up, blinking as his surroundings came back to him, his voice starting to flavor with personality as he spoke. "Yeah, I had just barely made it to walk at graduation, and the week after that I was finally able to go back to work."

A smile stretched across, a small laugh bubbling up as the memories flooded in. "I still remember it so vividly. It was morning meeting, because the summer program had started, and everybody was facing Iverson, my old site leader. He was announcing Matt, the friend who was with me at the gallery, as a group leader, and I remember when he looked up and saw me. Iverson was probably the most stuck up guy I'd ever known, but he smiled when he saw that I was back and wearing my badge, and then said I was also coming back as a group leader too."

Hunk wasn't even nodding along to let him know he was still listening, he couldn’t help but stare as the man before him continued to light up, which was miles better than the way he looked just a few moments ago, finding himself getting lost in seeing his grey eyes shine and his smile stretch wider and wider.

"All the kids just looked around for a solid minute, until one kid in the front stood up and turned around, and stared straight at me. She was maybe in 1st grade, and just started _screaming_ in joy and bolted, almost took me out when she reached me. For a few minutes it was just this giant group hug, I think some of the kids started to cry because they thought I left them for good, and some of the older kids just looked where my arm used to be and went pale."

The last few words sobered him, Hunk quickly moving along because he couldn't stand to see the other look so out of it again,

"You didn't tell them how it happened, did you?"

The question worked, Shiro shaking his head in response. "Oh, god no, at first I just told them an accident happened and my arm had to go, but when you work with kids you start to find kicks with this kind of stuff."

Hunk raised an eyebrow in question, feeling like he already knew the answer based off what he knew Kade told him. "Like?"

The biggest grin crossed Shiro's face, leaning closer and speaking a little lower. "You would not believe how many kids lose their shit when I say I got my hand stuck in a toaster."

Instantly the two dissolved into peals of laughter, both having to lean on each other, because one had to recover in some way from the dreary conversation they just had. Hunk was the first to calm down enough, managing to say, "I-I _knew_ there was something up, that date at the park! Kade just up and saying they didn’t trust toasters anymore!"

Shiro's eyes lit up with recognition, eagerly elaborating. "Oh yeah, it’s my favorite one, but sometimes I change it to get a child to behave. There was some 2nd grader that wouldn't stop sticking his own arm out the window on the bus during a field trip once, which is just dangerous alone, but kid logic justified that I was wrong and he was right. The fifth time I caught him I just deadpanned at him 'You realize I lost my arm that way right?' and he didn't believe me, so I had to continue and say 'Yeah a giant 16-wheeler was driving by and smacked it off' and that was enough to stop him. Little asshole still did it behind my back later on though."

They went quiet after that, concern starting to rise up again as Hunk thought back on the kids Shiro currently worked with. "Earlier on, after I picked Kade up and we were talking about why they got in trouble, they'd said something about the kids always treating you like that."

Kade always got worked up over people being mean to each other, which he was glad the child had, proud that his kid wouldn't tolerate bullying, but the descriptions worried him,

_The six-year-old's face fell, falling back into their car seat,_

_"They always never listen, even when Mister Shiro asks politely, or Miss Allura. When they left the room to do something, they started to say mean stuff like 'They never let us do anything' and 'Mister Shiro should just go away' and 'I hope my Dad yells at him again'."_

_Hunk almost couldn't believe what was being said, but he didn't raise a liar or somebody who just stood by. He remembered back to that first day, where even then parents had been rude and yelling over the smallest things, and he truly felt worry for the first over somebody he genuinely didn't know a lot about. That would change tonight though._

Such talk was almost borderline hostile, and hard to imagine a child saying. He looked to the other, Hunk’s heart dropping when he saw the clear look of sorrow on the other’s face. Shiro sighed, a hand going up to rub at the back of his neck,

"Yeah, it's gotten a bit worse since they told us we can't do as much in the gym. I can't hold it against them though. They're just kids, and they learned from a really bad behavior."

"You mean the guy who had your position before?"

He nodded, shifting his position so he could lean over instead, his rubbing hand moving instead to hold his cheek. "Yes, I can't say a whole lot about what happened, privacy and stuff, but, it's a wonder the program didn't get shut down after Alfor did a thorough investigation."

"The field manager right?"

"Yeah, there was disrespect between the staff and it carried over to the children. Now that the old staff is gone, they don't know how to properly treat the new staff and sometimes it’s just a mess."

"Gosh. . . that's rough buddy."

Shiro softly chuckled, Hunk happy he could at least laugh a bit at his line. "Very rough. Just need to hold out for a miracle, or just use my usual tactic of finding stuff to forget for a little while."

Hunk nodded for a moment, before an idea suddenly surfaced in his head and a flush went across his cheeks. Thankfully the silence between them seemed to fit, so the engineer got a few moments to try and talk himself out of his plan before he blurted out, "I think I know how I can help."

The words caught Shiro's attention, sitting up and turning to the other, perfectly oblivious. "Oh well, I'd be happy to hear-"

and then suddenly lips pressed against his own, warm and sweet and gentle, and then he pressed close too, letting himself fall into the tenderness Hunk was trying to provide.

Eventually they both broke away for air, both panting softly and staring at each other as they both came back. Hunk spoke first, voice cracking as he started to stutter. "I-I'm sorry, it just felt right, I figured- I can't tell you how long it's been since the last guy I dated so I'm a bit rusty-"

"Hunk."

He stopped, holding his breath as Shiro's face went soft, a gentle yet playful smile stretching across it. "It's fine, I just don't remember what we were talking about before that kiss."

To say the date went well was an understatement. They both laughed and ate and knew a lot more about each other, Hunk learned that Shiro lived with a roommate in an apartment complex that was close by to the park where they had their first date, Pidge was the sibling to the friend Shiro had been talking about, and that it had also been a while for Shiro since he had dated too. His last partner had been amazing and they separated on good terms because they had business opportunities to pursue, but he was glad to be dating Hunk now.

Hunk was pretty glad too.

They shared their third kiss as they parted to go home, their next date already planned and ready to go.

-

When Hunk got home he was welcomed to the sight of Pidge quietly working on homework, but was confused as he found Kade asleep by their hip, arms wrapped tight around a BMO plushie Lance had helped them win at a local arcade and a blanket carefully laid over them. Pidge glanced up and gave him a sheepish grin, setting aside their homework as they began to whisper to him, “I did the nighttime routine like you explained, and twenty minutes after I put them down they came down and said they couldn’t sleep. They already looked tired, so I figured they just needed some company to fall asleep.”

Hunk sighed in relief, glad that it wasn’t Pidge not following Hunk’s wishes and more their want to make Kade comfortable. “I understand, they did the same thing the first week they moved in with me. They’re just getting used to you.”

Pidge’s tense shoulders relaxed, obviously unsure of what Hunk would say about what had happened, and Hunk hated that they had been that worried in the first place. He waved them off as they left, thankfully in a car that they claimed would get them home in barely five minutes, and already promising to babysit Kade for the next date.

The moment the door shut Hunk was hit full-force with how tired he was. It had been a socially exhausting day, probably the most he’d done in a long while. He turned back around to take Kade upstairs, but was taken by surprise as he saw Kade was sitting up, blinking sleepily and still holding tight to the BMO plush.

“Hey there buddy, you doing okay?”

He got a slow nod in response, Kade wordlessly holding their arms out again for a hug. Hunk rolled his eyes in exasperation, but stepped forward and hugged them, chuckling as the child sagged against him. “You should go back to sleep buddy, I’ll go tuck you in.”

There was the slightest stiffening in the small body before him, Hunk frowning in worry and brushing a hand up through their unruly hair, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Kade shifted against him for a bit before they finally looked up at him, a morose look in their eyes, “Bad dream. . . “

Oh no, that explained why they had woken up earlier. It was probably a mild one, Pidge would’ve told Hunk if Kade had been crying. He lifted them up into his arms, quietly starting to lock up the house as he responded, “I’m sorry, did you want to talk about it?”

Kade stiffened even more in his carry and picked at the shirt he was wearing, which threw Hunk for a loop. This wasn’t the usual body language Kade portrayed concerning dreams-but there was that one night when Kade had been afraid to admit that they had a dream where Hunk left them. He began to walk them upstairs, making a last second decision and carrying Kade into Hunk’s own room, setting them on the bed, “I’m gonna go get changed now, I’ll be back okay?” He waited for them to nod before he grabbed pajamas and hurried to the bathroom to change, getting back in record time. He wished that Kade would talk more about the dream they had, but Hunk wouldn’t dare force anything if it rattled them this badly. But as they were finally settled in to sleep, Kade tucking themselves right up against Hunk’s side and into the crook of his arm, they spoke quietly.

“Th’ dream was bad. You called an’ said you weren’t comin’ back cause you liked Mister Shiro too much.”

Hunk’s heart _sank._ Kade had woken up and feared that Hunk would call any minute and say that.  They’d woken up while Hunk was still out on his date, and not there to reassure them.

He pulled them closer, somewhat relieved to feel no wet spots forming on his shirt, “Kade, I _promise_ that will never happen. Even if I liked Mister Shiro that badly, I would **_never_** leave you. You will always come first.”

Kade finally relaxed against him and relief washed over Hunk. He could only hope for the day that these fears were no more. It wasn’t right for a child to be so wrought with the realization that not everybody was permanently present in their life, and he would do whatever it took to make them go away.

He must be doing something right though, since Kade sat up enough for Hunk to turn and look at them, and his heart now melted as Kade softly kissed him on the cheek, whispering, “I love you Daddy. Have good dreams.”

Hunk smiled and pressed a kiss to the side of their head, tucking them under his chin as he felt sleep pull him under, “Love you too buddy. Have good dreams too.”

Hunk would ask Shiro to try and start doing more lunchtime dates, any time frame where Kade didn’t fall asleep and would possibly wake up feeling alone. Kade deserved to have someone there to wake up to when the nightmares came.


	6. The Worst Cliché

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the worst thing happens
> 
> thanks to [armouredescort](http://archiveofourown.org/users/armouredescort/pseuds/armouredescort) for letting me borrow their wonderful OC Simone! pls go read the fic that features her, [Transmissions from Persephone](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11395452) it's wonderful and adds more depth to the Galaxy Garrison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /thRO WS THIS CHAPTER AND RUN S AWAY

Time for a short while after Hunk graduated high school felt slowed down, like the Earth had decided to slow its axis just a bit and make the days and months go by so slow. The weeks dragged while he worked away at his degree, and only when Kade had first become a part of his life did he feel everything pick up speed. It only increased more as he and Shiro continued their dates. It was the now the start of November and already they had been on a multitude of dates, whether it was the two of them or Kade somehow tagged along. They’d gone to art exhibits, lunch dates, one memorable date when Pidge had caught strep led to a trip to the zoo, Kade leaving with a giant sloth plush in their arms because Shiro had accidentally smacked them in the face with his prosthetic arm while they played at the jungle gym (“Shiro it’s okay you apologized-“ “No I am a horrible person and if they want a sloth toy _then Kade is getting a sloth toy_ ”).

It was probably the happiest time of Hunk’s life, until now where it came to a screeching halt as Hunk sat at a booth in the restaurant where they had their first date alone.

In all his dating experience, Hunk had never been stood up.

It almost seemed archaic, like something that only happened in 90's teenager romcoms, or was done by a single person just to get free food from the restaurant.

Hunk checked his phone again for the umpteenth time, heart dropping as he looked at the time, 7:48 pm, and the lack of text messages that would've blocked the photo of Kade using a Snapchat filter that he set as his lock screen. He couldn't bring himself to try and reach out to whom he'd just finally felt comfortable enough to call boyfriend now, anxiety randomly spiking and making his fingers place it down instead of unlocking it and doing something.

The only thing he could do that required minimum effort was to stare down at the wood-grain of the table, trying to shake off the feeling of eyes on him even though he knew nobody was looking.

Wasn't there a sort of grace period for this kind of stuff? Shouldn't somebody call when they realized how late they'll be and see if the other person wanted to wait or just rather go home?

Shiro had really seemed like that kind of guy, honest and thoughtful and it had all swept him off his feet and Hunk had loved it so much, but now an ugly worm of doubt settled in his chest and was eating him up.

Hunk continued to stare at the table, trying to fight off the feeling of his heart slowly coming apart at the seams.

-

Shiro paced back and forth in the hallway, his hand holding the program work phone in a death grip as he tried the same number for the hundredth time, pushing down a groan of frustration as he was met with another useless voicemail.

It was 7:50 pm on a Friday night and of course today is the day that Life had to throw absolute shit at him.

He'd started off today with his car breaking down at 6 o clock on the dot, then after getting a ride from his roommate for the morning shift, he went to check the snack and found mice of all things eating it all up, and as he'd been scrambling to contact other sites for some snacks to loan for the afternoon, two 3rd graders had gotten into a fist fight and he had to give them both demerits. Of course then he had to stay and work on the planning that he'd been slipping on because he couldn't leave for a minute without something fucking up, and that afternoon he'd had to endure the parents of the 3rd graders yelling at him because of course it was his fault, the Kindergartners had completely ruined all the brand new art supplies he'd just ordered, and to top it off this fucking goddamn parent wouldn't answer their phone and he was slowly beginning to accept that he'd have to call Child Services because how the fuck did you forget to pick up your child and leave them for two hours past the legally allowed time frame the program could have?!

The only thing that had been magically been pulling him through this shit fest had been seeing Hunk when he'd come to pick up Kade, it was exactly like that moment of calm when the eye of the hurricane moved over, allowing the briefest spot of light to shine down and make things just a bit okay.

A frantic knock at the door had him jumping in surprise, Allura beating him to the door since she and the last child had been sitting at the front desk, trying to distract him with some funny animal videos she'd pulled up on Youtube.

The door opened and an adult shuffled inside, pure guilt and shame all over her face. She softly spoke as the boy walked up to her side, seemingly indifferent to the circumstances they were in. "I am so sorry. I had talked with his father about who was picking up today, and he had said he would, and-"

Despite Allura being just as thoroughly frustrated as Shiro was, she still managed to smile, shaking her head. "It's alright, I didn't have big plans for tonight other than binging on a few shows I need to catch up on."

The short-lived relief that had flood into his being was gone instantly as Shiro remembered the one other thing that had been keeping him afloat among each terrible thing as they came, his gut dropping as he noticed the clock turning over to 8:00.

He was supposed to meet Hunk for dinner at 7:00.

He finally regained bearings of his surroundings, blinking as Allura stared at him in worry. "Are you alright Shiro? You went a bit pale there."

"I have a dinner date. I completely forgot.”

Allura’s eyes widened, taking a glance at the clock too as she asked, “For what time?”

“7:00.”

Immediately he was being shoved towards the clock out, protesting a bit until she shushed him,

“I’ll finish up, you have to call and let Hunk know what happened! The poor guy has probably made himself sick with worry!”

Shiro could only dumbly nod as he clocked out, have his things thrown at him, and once more got shoved out, where his roommate had sat out on the school patio, scrolling away on his phone this whole time. Shiro walked closer, casting a meek look at him, “Sorry Keith, you didn’t have to stay out here the whole time.”

Keith stood, shrugging as he handed Shiro the spare helmet he had, stalking off to the motorcycle he owned. "It's fine. My opinion shouldn't matter on it anyway." Keith sounded just like he did when something was bothering him. It was fine if Keith was angry about waiting for so long, he'd been here for just about an hour when he'd originally come to grab Shiro, if that was the case it would be better to handle it now.

Shiro reached out to grab Keith by the shoulder, effectively stopping him so Shiro could speak, "I'm sorry about this happening, I didn't think it would take this long to get the child picked up. You could've gone home and I would've been fine-" He was shocked when Keith turned to look at him, a hard look in his eyes and his body noticeably stiff.

"No Shiro, it's not you-just. . . " He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the black locks before dropping his hand and staring at the ground, "I'm mad at the parents. I'm taking it personally and I shouldn't be, but these are the same parents who've been late before, right?"

Shiro nodded, stunned by the clear show of emotion from Keith. His roommate was normally pretty reserved, and then he realized why Keith was having this reaction. His parents had been absent from his life, he'd been tight-lipped before in the previous instances Shiro had complained about these parents, but he'd never made the connection until now.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Keith. This is the only time this will happen, I'm going to bring this up with Alfor and he'll talk with them about it. . . " He paused for a moment, trying to come up with something to say that could make Keith feel justified about his emotions, smiling as he thought of it. "I can't count how many times Coran has gotten frustrated with them. He probably never brings it up with you, but he's said a couple times how he'd like to give the parents a 'talking to'."

The words worked, Keith's face softening at the mention of his adopted father. "Figures, he's a good parent." His gloved hand reached up to pat Shiro's that rested on his shoulder, jerking his head towards his motorcycle, "Let’s go. Were you still going to that date with Hunk?"

Shiro once again felt horrible that he'd forgotten the date, quickly nodding and following after Keith, "Yeah, I'm hoping I can get there and talk with him, this would be too complicated to explain over text."

He ignored the 'If you say so' look Keith gave him, already fastening on the helmet. He could only hope that Hunk would be forgiving.

-

An hour. No, more than a solid hour. No text, no phonecall, nothing.

Hunk actually felt like crying. Being stood up, especially by _Shiro_ of all people, really sucked. He sighed as he finally unlocked his phone, feeling his hands shake as he made himself open up the text thread he had with Shiro, along with his gut sinking at the last message.

_God I'm so done with today. Can't wait to have dinner with you_ _♥ -S_

Hunk slowly began to type, hoping that something would happen, that Shiro would come bursting into the restaurant, or that a text from him would come through, but no such thing happened by the time his own text was ready. Hunk read over it once, twice, tried to reword it, everything that was far too necessary to try and stretch the time and continue to hold out with a hope that something good would happen.

Eventually, Hunk gave up.

_Hey I don’t know what happened, but I had something come up with Kade,                                                         they had a nightmare. -H_

_I have to get to them, I hope you understand. Can we reschedule? -H_

Hunk stared at his screen as the message sent, feeling more like he was an empty shell than anything else right now. He stood, quietly making his way to the bathroom. He’d prepare himself to face those invisible eyes in the safety of the bathroom, walk out to his car, and get home to Kade. The thought of going home and seeing Kade smile made Hunk feel just that bit better, hoping they were still up at this time.

Kade came first after all. Hunk would talk with Shiro on Monday when he dropped Kade off for before school care. This wasn’t the end of the world.

-

Shiro blanked as he read over the text. He’d received it as Keith drove him to the restaurant, he’d hoped that it wasn’t anything bad, but here it was. Shiro sighed in defeat, a deep seated anger boiling up as he sent a quick message saying he understood and would reschedule. Anger at the parents, anger at the day, anger at _himself_ for thinking he could keep Hunk waiting like this and forget. It was obvious that the text was a thinly veiled _I'll just go because it's clear you stood me up_ and Hunk was far too nice to be rude. Shiro ran a hand up through his hair, wondering if it was worth it to text Keith now and ask him to come back. He'd already made his roommate do so much today though.

A group of people passing by, tinkling laughter following them and a glimpse of flushed faces gave Shiro an idea. Might as well drown sorrows when you had them, the bar inside was decent too. So he walked in, heading right to the bar, and ordering a double vodka cranberry , sighing as he took a seat on the stool, slumping in. He could only hope Hunk wouldn't be mad at him tomorrow, maybe he could stop by his house and explain then and apologize.

"Shiro? Is that you?"

Shiro nearly knocked his drink over as he heard the familiar voice, whipping around and blinking as he was met with the sight of one of his friends, a wide smile gracing his face, "Simone?"

Standing there, a vision with dark skin, an elegant smile, and a poppy pinned to her jacket was Simone, a friend of Shiro’s. They had attended the same summer space camp for years, both originally aiming for something to do with the career. Shiro had wanted to learn more about astronomy and maybe teach it one day, and Simone had wanted to work for NASA as a communications officer. Luckily Simone had achieved her dream, and had moved away to be closer to Mission Control, and had kept in touch with Shiro through social media. Now that he remembered, he had seen a post from her saying she would be stopping by to see some family for the weekend.

“It’s been too long Shiro! Are you free to catch up?”

This was perfect, he could relax now and get his mind off Hunk for a while. Once he wasn’t thinking so emotionally he could talk with Hunk and they could be sensible adults. Shiro nodded at Simone, gesturing to the empty seat next to him.

“Of course, you know I want to hear about NASA. Tell me everything!”

She happily settled down, talking amicably with him and answering all his questions, Shiro slowly relaxing and focusing more and more on the other.

-

Hunk had managed to finally get himself composed enough to walk out to his car, so sure that nothing else could go wrong until it did.

Shiro was at the bar, just off to the side of the restaurant. He was talking to a woman that he was pressed so close to, both so absorbed in a conversation and Hunk felt dizzy as the revelation hit him that not only had he been stood up, but Shiro had stood Hunk up to see _somebody else_. He was stuck to the spot, not able to comprehend yet clearly processing the female, far more striking than Hunk even in his best clothes.

From everything he’d seen in media, the appropriate actions seemed to be to run up and confront the issue going on, accuse Shiro of cheating and not caring for him, making as big a scene as possible.

Hunk was just. . . too tired of everything to do that though.

It was easier to just accept what he saw, that Shiro no longer held interest in him. Would rather be with somebody like this mystery woman who was tall and gorgeous and charming by the way she made Shiro throw his head back and laugh. . . she probably didn’t have a kid. That mystery woman was probably way better at flirting and romancing than Hunk.

Hunk walked away, just seconds away from Shiro glancing over at the entrance as he swore he felt eyes on him.

-

Hunk had almost forgotten about it all until the next morning, when he woke up to his phone ringing with a series of texts.

_Hey I’m so so SO sorry about last night -S_

_Work was horrible and I had to potentially deal with calling in child services and everything just slipped from my mind -S_

_It was just not a good time -S_

_Would you want to get together later on today, or tonight maybe? -S_

_I could bring over some wine for us and a welch’s sparkling cider for Kade? -S_

He was all too suddenly hit with the memories of last night, of waiting for an hour, feeling heartbroken and rejected, only to leave and see Shiro smiling with someone else.

Hunk almost wanted to ignore it, put his phone on silent and leave it in his room. That was too extreme though, and not fair to everybody else he knew. He’d managed to fake something last night, he could just do it all again.

_It’s fine, sorry you had a bad day -H_

_I’m actually really busy today and tonight, I have to run Kade to a doctor’s appointment -H_

_My parents made dinner plans with me tonight already too -H_

_Okay, guess there’s no changing around any of that ha -S_

_What about Sunday? -S_

_I’m busy then too, sorry -H_

_Oh. Okay. -S_

_Guess I’ll see you Monday at 7 am? -S_

_I guess so -H_

_Yeah. You’re not mad at me? -S_

_No I’m not I promise -H_

It felt childish and selfish to do this but. . . Hunk couldn’t handle seeing Shiro today. He wouldn’t be able to handle him on Sunday either.

Hunk may not be able to handle seeing Shiro on Monday either.

He probably couldn’t handle seeing him again for a while.

-

On the next Monday morning, Kade woke up to no sight of Daddy leaning over them, telling them to get dressed to go to school. They blinked and warily looked around their room, carefully investigating each corner in the hopes of Daddy popping out, but no such thing happened. Kade slid out of bed, pausing for a moment before reaching back up onto their bed to grab Susie Sloth, the one Mister Shiro got for them at the zoo, and walked downstairs as they smelled something coming up from down there.

The smell was coming from the kitchen, and that was where Kade found Daddy at the stove, making whistles with his mouth as he cooked in one of the pans. They smiled and giggled at how silly Daddy was, making him turn around to look at Kade and smile too.

“Good morning buddy, sleep good?”

Daddy’s looked down at Susie Sloth and did something Kade had never seen before. He kept looking at Susie as he frowned, and looked kind of sad and kind of mad. Kade felt just a bit scared, they’d never seen Daddy look like this before. They held Susie a little tighter, worriedly asking, “Do you not like Susie Daddy?”

He jumped a tiny bit then, eyes finally looking up at Kade before he shook his head, a smile now replacing his frown that looked. . . wrong.

“I like Susie, I promise. Go ahead and sit down, pancakes are almost ready.”

That made Kade perk up, pancakes were only ever for the weekend! They took a long while to make so that’s why they never did it during the week unless it was summer. Kade had settled down into their seat, Susie Sloth tucked by their side, when they suddenly realized what that meant, quietly asking Daddy again, “Does this mean I don’t see Mister Shiro or Miss Allura today?”

Daddy stood still at the question, shoulders rising and falling as he took a deep breath before he turned around, the same smile that looked wrong on his face, “Yeah, I’m afraid not. Sorry buddy, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

They ate their pancakes, Kade’s soaked through with syrup and topped with cherries and whipped cream while Daddy’s had pineapples and powdered sugar. Daddy dropped them off at school in the car rider line, something that never happened, and all throughout the day Kade had a queasy feeling in their tummy. Even though the smile that looked wrong went away from Daddy’s face, it looked just like the ones the people before who had adopted Kade and before they got sent back to the big orphan home with all the other kids.

Daddy had promised that he would always be their Daddy, but Kade was scared that wasn’t true now.

-

It’s been almost two weeks now and Shiro was _very sure_ Hunk was mad at him. They hadn’t talked once since that Saturday morning over texts, and accompany that with Hunk nor Kade coming in or out of the school care program. Kade wasn’t sick, the other kids had said Kade was coming in but was now being dismissed in the car rider line and was not talking as much in class now.

Shiro hadn’t texted because at this point he just wanted to _talk_ face to face with Hunk, apologize to him for their last date, ask if something was wrong, ask if _Shiro himself_ was the reason for this cold shoulder treatment.

So he gained the courage to muster up a text, hovering over his phone for a solid half hour after sending for a response, before he sighed in defeat. He needed something to distract himself, it was a Saturday but he hitting the gym and forgetting for a while sounded like a good idea.

Shiro was unaware of the event he had just caused, while his text was viewed by Hunk, another set of eyes happened to see it.

_What did I do? -S_

Kade stared wide-eyed at the text notification, the banner scrolling down over the Snapchat app where Kade was currently making funny faces with a lion filter. Suddenly it was taken from them, Daddy asking if it was Uncle Lance or somebody else, and then it was quiet as he read the text. Kade squirmed from the quiet until Daddy spoke, politely telling Kade that he needed to take his phone back and saying that the cookies would be done soon.

Kade sunk into the couch, biting their lip as they thought back to the words. Had Mister Shiro done something wrong? Daddy had been acting weird and not right for a while now. Daddy just acted sad before trying to pretend to be happy whenever Kade said something about Mister Shiro. They peeked into the kitchen, watching Daddy stare at the phone before he sighed and put it down, going back to the icing he was making. Daddy wasn’t going to respond to Mister Shiro, so maybe that meant that he really _had_ done something wrong.

Kade turned around, looking at the front door. They thought about how their trike was on the front porch, and about that one time Daddy took Kade on a date and they walked to the park instead of driving because it was close by, and how Mister Shiro’s home was close to there too.

Maybe Kade could help?

-

Hunk could admit that he was getting ridiculous with this. He’d completely thrown off not only his own schedule, but Kade’s too in an effort to avoid Shiro. He sighed as he stared down at the cookies he pulled out, a few of them burnt at the edges because he’d been too lost in his thoughts to set a timer for them.

He had to stop this. He was being selfish.

He looked back at the phone, still opened up to the message thread with Shiro with his question still posed there. He made a promise to himself to answer it by the end of the day, he at least owed Shiro and explanation. He turned away from his phone for now, instead wandering back out into the small living room.

“Kade, cookies are done! You wanted to help me ice them, right?”

He blinked as he was met with no sign of his child. The TV was off, some of the pillows were tossed around on the couch-

_The door was wide open._

“K-Kade? Buddy?”

Hunk bolted up the stairs, heart pounding as he made it up to Kade’s room, left un-touched since the child had woken up this morning. He threw the closet door open, desperately hoping that Kade would yell and jump out and laugh at successfully spooking him, but no such thing happened.

He _tore_ through the house, frantically checking every corner of every room and his yells slowly went up in pitch and loudness as Hunk continued to find no trace of Kade.

Finally he went to the still open door, and dared to look to the side of the porch.

Kade’s trike was missing.

**_Kade ran away._ **


	7. Amber Alert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everything comes to a boil during this very frantic Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the final piece of art that [teicakes](http://teicakes.tumblr.com/) created for the story, a link to the post will be edited in when available
> 
> ~~haha hope nobody hates me for the last chapters ending~~

Kade had _never_ gone outside without an adult before.

Daddy or Uncle Lance would normally be with them, and there was the one time Pidge had too, but never had they stepped foot out the door without anyone at all to hold their hand.

The thought of coming across a street they would need to cross scared Kade, but they shook the feeling off, frowning and scurrying to the side porch, where their orange trike sat. They started to pull it out to the driveway, pure determination fueling their every action.

The six-and-a-half year old wasn’t going to give up now. There was an important mission that had to be done that nobody seemed to want to do.

Kade plopped onto the trike, carefully arranging their feet on the pedals and started to push so the trike would start to roll, remembering that the place they were aiming for was to the left and turned onto the sidewalk there.

Kade was going to find where Mister Shiro lived, and make him apologize to Daddy.

The 1st grader didn’t know what had happened, just that it felt like two whole years since they’d gone to aftercare (Kade _really_ missed Pidge and Mr. Coran and Ms. Allura) and every time they asked if Mister Shiro would come over for another playdate Daddy would get the same sad look on his face and Kade did _not_ like that at all.

It had all connected together like those connect the dots activity sheets today, Kade had been playing on Daddy’s phone and a text had been sent from Mister Shiro saying:

_What did I do?_

Sure Mister Shiro had said he was a Big Boy and could handle his own problems, but he had made Daddy not happy and sad and not laugh for the past week . . . it felt like Daddy was leaving them even though he promised he never would.

They pedaled _just_ a little bit faster, trying to remember what they had passed by the one-time Daddy had tooken them to meet Mister Shiro at his home.

Kade remembered the way adults sounded when they were not happy, and muttered under their breath like they were a leader of a motorcycle gang and not a child on a trike,

“You’re in big trouble Mister Shiro.”

-

Lance was ready to go home and pass the _fuck_ out.

He’d taken a double shift at the diner and had picked up the groceries his mama had asked for, so he was one tired dude.

Lance was about to send a text to let his family know he was coming home and would need help unloading the car, then he could crash on the couch as soon as he got there. Unfortunately, there were other plans that Life had for him.

 

**_THAT’S MY BEST FRIEND THAT’S MY BEST FRIEND YOU BETTER FUCK IT UP BEST FRIEND WON’T YOU?_ **

Lance nearly had a heart attack, swearing as his phone fumbled in his hands before it fell to the floor by his feet. He scrambled to pick it up and answer, because there was only one person who that ringtone was set to.

“Hunk? Is everything okay?”

They had talked just last night over the phone. Hunk was taking whatever had happened with Shiro a little hard which was understandable, he had tried to cut off dating but then that man had come along and actually made Hunk ridiculously happy (Lance had _never_ seen him this in love). Hunk wasn’t the kind to get this hung up, even with how good a guy Shiro was, and he started to have a bad feeling that this was about something different.

_“Kade’s gone. I-I-I don’t know where they went but they’re **gone**.”_

This was a _very bad_ kind of different. “Are-are you sure? You checked their closet? Your room?” Kade wasn’t the kind of kid to just wander off, Lance had been that exact kind of kid and knew that while Kade could be silly and like memes just like Lance, they were not the kid he was growing up.

_“Everywhere I checked **everywhere** and their trike is gone-I don’t- oh my **fucking god.** ”_

This was very _very_ bad, Hunk rarely swore, if he did it was because it was just him and Lance or he was in _tons of_ distress. Lance fumbled to start the engine of his car, having to try once or twice as Hunk kept hyperventilating in his ear, and once it rumbled to life Lance began to talk again,

“I have to stop at home first but once I do _I’m coming right over_ to help you search. We still have enough hours of daylight, we’ll find Kade-“

_“Oh god what if the agency somehow finds out **what if they take Kade away-!** ”_

_“HUNK!”_

The line went quiet, save for Hunk’s panicked breathing, and Lance took his own deep breath before he continued. “ _No one is taking Kade away._ Kids get lost. It’s scary when it happens but it does happen. I can’t count how many times my own siblings ran off and I got worried sick, or the times _I did_ and how my older siblings cried when they found me. It’s a scary experience but nine times out of ten they’re barely a street or two over when we find them, maybe sometimes in another neighborhood. Kade will be _okay_ , and if anybody questions your ability as a father they can go through _me first._ ”

By the time he’d finished his piece Hunk sounded significantly calmer, hearing deep breaths over the receiver. The first wave of panic was hopefully done, if any more came Lance would be there physically to help Hunk. “I’m leaving the store right now, I’m stopping to drop the things I picked up at home, then I’m coming to you and we’re gonna start combing the streets. Keep taking deep breaths, think of the places Kade would probably go to, and wait until I get there, okay?”

_“. . . Okay. Thanks Lance.”_

Lance smiled, glad he could help Hunk. “No problem Big Guy. See you in a bit.”

He hung up then, switched the car to drive, and _tried_ to obey the speed limit as he sped home.

-

The building looming before Kade seemed familiar, it was very tall and was almost blocking the sun in the sky, and they were pretty sure that up the stairs is where they would find Mister Shiro. They got off their trike and pushed it over towards the stairs, suddenly stopping when they realized a problem.

Daddy always told Kade to put their trike on the porch and very close to the house, otherwise not nice people would assume they could just take it. When Kade asked why people would think that Daddy would give him a sad smile and say that sometimes that's what people were like.

The trike would have to come with Kade (someone would definitely try to take something left at the foot of a stairs) lest they get in trouble with Daddy. They glanced around, unable to spot an elevator nearby.

Kade fidgeted with the ruffles on their shirt, looking behind them and back the way they'd came. Maybe Daddy had seen they were gone by now, what if he was worried? What if Mister Shiro wasn't upstairs at all?

The 1st grader shook their head, furrowing their eyebrows in re-ignited righteous fury. No! Kade had come too far to be beaten by a tiny problem, they were going to march upstairs, knock on the door Mister Shiro lived in, and make him say _sorry!_

Kade turned to their trike, grunting as they tried to pick it up in their arms just like Daddy did, and turned to face the stairs.

And stared in fear and shock because somebody was standing there, staring at them with an equally confused look in his eyes. He looked between the trike and Kade, opening his mouth to ask,

"What are you doing here? There aren’t any families that live here."

Kade was in trouble now. This guy was going to ask them where they lived and take them home and Daddy was going to be so upset and things wouldn't get better between him and Mister Shiro and Kade was _alone_ and _scared_ and they just _wanted **everything to go back to the way it was**!_ Kade started to cry, because it seemed like the only other thing that made sense with how confusing everything else was, sniffling as the guy in front of them jumped in surprise,

"Oh shi- shoot uh, calm down, okay kid? Let me help you find your parents-"

_No!_ Kade didn't want to go _anywhere_ with this guy! They turned to run back the other way, because Daddy always said _never_ go anywhere with a stranger! Turn around and go the other way when a stranger asked to take you somewhere!

Most kids probably weren't struggling to hold a tricycle when running away from a stranger though.

The next few seconds were a blur, one step led to Kade losing their balance and the next moment they were on the floor and their knee _really hurt_. Kade looked down, gasping because their new pants were ripped and it was getting red and that’s why it was hurting so bad and only one thing continued to make sense.

Kade squeezed their eyes shut and started to _wail_. They kept wailing because _everything was horrible right now_ and _they just wanted Daddy darn it!_ Then suddenly there was a hand on their shoulder, Kade kept sobbing as they opened their eyes and of all things _there was Mister Shiro_. He looked really concerned, and said something about taking them upstairs to clean their knee, and Kade just _really_ wanted a hug, so they reached their arms out and finally calmed down a bit as warm arms wrapped around them. They felt Mister Shiro carefully stand and start carrying them somewhere, maybe up the steps.

At least Kade was getting to where they wanted to go.

-

The moment Lance got home he immediately explained to his family about what had happened. Everybody was instantly worried, they had taken Hunk and his child in as another part of their family, Hunk becoming another one of the siblings and Kade becoming everyone’s little nibling.

His _abuela_ instantly shooed him to one of the spare cars, insisting that he get right over to his friend. Before he could argue any kind of point his Mamá set him with a firm look, pointing a finger for emphasis. “You are going _now._ Go and start searching with him, we’ll join as soon as we can. The poor boy must be worried to death by now! Go find our _conjito._ ”

So hurry he did, Lance immediately booking it to Hunk’s house. The moment he got there Hunk was already out on the sidewalk, head twisting every which way as he looked up and down the street, and Lance immediately joined him and they started to walk everywhere, calling out to Kade and hoping to see their messy hair pop out from behind a fence. They searched the street Hunk and Kade lived on and found nothing. They checked the neighboring streets on both sides and found nothing. Lance could sense Hunk’s panic rising again, and he was about to offer a new plan of attack when someone called out to them.

“Hey! Mr. Garrett!”

Hunk turned to the voice, blinking at the teen running up to him, an older dog running along their side and on a leash. The teen had a questioning look behind their rounded glasses, looking at Hunk with concern. “Pidge? I didn’t know you lived nearby.”

Pidge nodded, jabbing a thumb back the way they came, “Down on Montgomery Lane, that’s why I was cool with babysitting for you.” Their face got even more worried then, “I thought I heard you guys calling for Kade, did something happen to them?”

Hunk’s gaze fell to the sidewalk, so Lance stepped in, talking to Pidge, “Yeah, Kade ran off, about an hour ago. Did you happen to see them?” He frowned as Pidge shook their head, feeling the small bit of hope he had disappear.

“No, but I can help. I can run home and grab my brother, we can drive around further out in case they went that far.”

Lance nodded, smiling at them, “That would be beyond helpful. Pidge right? Call me Lance. You have Hunk’s number I assume?” He continued as he got a nod in response, “We’ve already searched this street and the two behind us, we’ll probably wind up moving towards the park if we can’t find them here, but you and your brother can head over that way right now.”

Pidge nodded, turning back the way they had come, “I’ll text you Mr. Garrett when we start, and if we find Kade! Come on Gunther.” With that the teenager ran off, dog trotting along by their side.

Lance turned to Hunk then, reaching out to grab at a shoulder, “See? Things are already looking up, we have extra help! My family should be along soon also.” He gripped his friends shoulder just a bit tighter, causing Hunk to look up, his downcast eyes finally looking just a bit hopeful.

“Yeah, let’s keep moving. Hopefully Kade has run into somebody who’ll help them.””

-

Shiro considered his apartment to be an okay place. The surrounding people weren't obnoxiously loud or rude, and the building was just far enough away from heavy traffic areas and most things were in walking distance too.

He didn't realize it'd be just enough distance for a six year old to come over by themselves though.

He looked back down again at Kade, their head still buried in his shoulder and crying heavily, sighing as he waited for Keith to open the door to their shared space. It was a good thing he'd been leaving when he did, even though if Shiro was already at the gym Keith wouldn't have hesitated to call him immediately. Keith didn't do well at all with kids and Shiro wasn't about to try and change somebody's mind about things like that.

The door finally opened, both stepping inside. Their apartment was clean for the most part, the carpet probably needed vacuumed and the dishes needed to be done, but there was enough space to set Kade down on the counter so Shiro could properly clean the knee scrape.

As Shiro did so, Keith awkwardly stood to the side, still holding onto the trike he had said the child was trying to carry when he walked down the stairs.

"So, do you need the first aid?"

Shiro nodded as he pulled the leg of the ruined jeans up, briefly looking over his shoulder at the other,

"Yeah, if you could grab that and that little box of fidgets from my room."

The fidgets were old and from when he had first lost his arm and either needed help focusing or needed to test his tech arm, but they would do as toys for Kade after they were patched up and Shiro could figure out why Hunk's kid was out on their own like this.

Keith nodded, happy to finally have something to do, setting the trike down as he moved to grab the needed things. He had stopped as soon as he stepped foot in the living space, ducking his head back in and asked with a tone that sounded like he already knew the answer,

"Should I put my knife polishing stuff away?"

Shiro sighed as he ran a paper towel under the tap, not even looking at the other,

"Yes, Keith. Not safe things to have around kids."

He could feel the eye roll he got from him, muttering a sarcastic 'yes sir' before going off to continue what he was doing.

Shiro shook his head and turned back to Kade, having deescalated to the few odd tears and a hiccup instead of their previous wailing. He gave them a gentle smile, holding up the wet towel for them to see. "Hey there Buddy, this is just water okay? I’m gonna clean it up, then when Keith comes back I'll put a band-aid and some ointment on, got it?"

Of all things he hadn't expected Kade to vigorously shake their head, suddenly setting him with a dour look, as if he'd taken the last yogurt at snack. "No."

The adult could only blink in surprise, lowering the hand and preparing himself against kid logic. "Kade, you're hurt. Your dad wouldn't be very happy if he found out I didn’t help you."

The child continued to frown, crossing their arms for added effect as they continued. "No. Not until you apologize."

Ah. Shiro sighed again, figuring he knew where this was going. He could go into a whole other thing with this talk, because he was pretty sure Hunk didn't openly talk about his relationships to his kid, but there was very specific things not a lot of people knew about kids. Kids could be the worst bullies, the most straight forward people, and the one thing that was taken for granted a lot of the time: they watched and listened more than adults realized.

"Apologize to who?"

Kade looked down at their lap, idly kicking their good leg. "To Daddy. You did something and now he's sad. He doesn't smile a lot now, and he won't dance when our favorite song plays. I’m afraid he’s leaving me."

Shiro had smiled as the song was brought up, remembering back to figuring out what happened when _Can’t Stop the Feeling_ was played around the two. The clear joy on Kade's face and Hunk laughing and all of them dancing together on the empty theatre floor space as the credits rolled. When Kade said they were afraid though? It made his heart ache. It’d happened only once at school, the poor child had woken up after an impromptu nap during afternoon care, crying and asking for Hunk. They’d had a nightmare that their dad had packed up all of Kade’s things, and then sent them away with the adoption people, just like the families before. It had taken a long time to calm them down, and thankfully by the time it’d been accomplished Hunk had been there to pick them up. "Has he really?"

Kade nodded, picking at the shirt they wore, an obvious stain from juice along the collar. "You said you didn't need help before, but Daddy has been sad for a long time now. Like, fifteen months or something, so I thinked maybe I should help this one time."

Shiro couldn't help but smile at the improbable amount of time, but the recall to that day when Kade had yelled at those older kids surprised him. He couldn't blame those kids, they'd had a very unfit role model before and that'd rubbed off onto them, and they were 5th graders and wouldn't feel the least bit intimidated by a 1st grader. That hadn't stopped Kade though. Shiro still laughed at himself for calling himself a 'Big Boy' at the time and assuring that he could handle things himself. But maybe the child wasn’t wrong this time.

Kade had every reason to worry; there was a clear change in their father’s behavior, not large but subtle enough to be seen and igniting their fear. Shiro had even been debating on whether to continue trying to reach out to Hunk, he refused every contact he initiated and he was probably getting off work early so Kade wouldn't have to go to aftercare, but there had been something different about him that had kept him from giving up.

From the moment they met at the store Shiro knew he'd seen sunshine incarnate, a man so bright and happy and unapologetic about himself and his life, the way his skin flushed was mesmerizing and he was blessed with the most kissable nose and lips and cheeks, and there was so much more he'd been looking forward to before whatever had happened occurred.

This happenstance was a clear sign he still had to at least fix things, because even from Kade's description it seemed like Hunk still was interested. Most people who suddenly cut off relationships were normally angry or indifferent; the fact that he was sad meant that there was the smallest possible chance, and that was enough to make Shiro hopeful.

Shiro smiled at Kade, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I think I did need your help this time. Thanks Buddy.” Kade finally gave a small smile, uncrossing their arms to rub at their cheeks, trying to smooth away the rough tear tracks. "So how about this, let me clean your knee, and you can play with the toys I have for a bit while I call your Dad."

Of course by now Hunk had to have realized his missing child, and was probably frantically searching for them, no different than the first time they met. Good excuse to finally talk to him, but it was still bad because the father was likely sick to his stomach with worry. Having a child lost at the grocery store was different then your child just walking out of the house.

Kade straightened up and nodded, making no comment as Shiro finally wiped the knee clean, having to rub a bit to get off some dried blood. A cough behind him finally notified Shiro of Keith standing at the entrance to the kitchen, holding the kit with a small wooden box stacked on it.

Shiro turned to take the items, thanking him and went back to attend to Kade, but Keith suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder to grab his attention further. "Do you want me to go outside? Maybe see if this guy is walking around and looking for them?"

Shiro smiled, he would have to tell Keith later how much that offer to help made him proud, but sadly shook his head. "Nah, this shouldn't take too long. I think it'd be easier to just call right now."

Keith didn't take offense, nodding in reply as he walked to the door, saying he'd actually go get the mail now. Shiro once again turned back to Kade, finally dressing the knee scrape with some ointment and the last 'fun' bandaids left (that sunglasses emoji for some reason was plastered all over it). Shiro carefully set Kade down on the ground, showing them over to the sagging couch in the living space, and once they were settled with the fidgets Shiro went back over into the kitchen, pulling his phone out and going to call Hunk.

For whatever reason, there was no answer. Shiro highly doubted that Hunk was that firm about the cold shoulder, and tried quite a few times, enough that Keith finally came back through the door, shooting Shiro a questioning glance as he held what was likely junk mail and bills. "Isn't he answering?"

Shiro sighed as he ended the call before the voicemail could play for the thirteenth time, trying to keep his heart from aching just that little bit, turning to Keith with the same confusion on his face.

"No, I don't understand it. I really don't believe that Hunk is that petty, I think something happened to his phone."

He quickly held a hand up, because he knew Keith, knew he jumped to conclusions faster than anybody really should, stopping him before he could start. "Before you say anything, believe me. Hunk is the most capable and loving parent. Even if he was upset over a relationship, he'd prioritize Kade over that by _light years_. He's either getting constant calls or something happened to the phone."

Shiro glanced over to Kade, who seemed to be making the squishy spike ball act as the horse for a fidget cube and was having them gallop over a fidget spinner as it spun on the table. "Guess we will have to go with your plan though. It'd just look really bad if we kept them here. Be ready to have a lot of questions and accusations thrown at you when we find Hunk, or he finds us."

Keith rolled his eyes as he pulled on his jacket, sarcasm ringing clear in his voice. "Do you mean my job? Every day of my life?"

Shiro barked out a laugh, agreeing with a quick 'same' before he went back over to Kade, telling them they were going to go for a walk, and yes they could take the spinner with them.

-

"No. No no no _no no no NO!_ "

Hunk could only stare down at his phone in horror. He hadn't checked it in who knows how long and apparently in that span of time his battery had completely run out. Kade must’ve used up the majority of it when using Snapchat earlier.

"What? Did someone call?"

Hunk looked back up at Lance, some hope on his face that instantly dropped at the fear he had on his own. "Battery die?"

Hunk just stared back down at the technology, his immediate impulse was to throw it into the road, maybe let it get run over, as if that would magically fix the battery, but that wouldn't help anything.

"It's okay I've still got mine, it’s a good thing I had you send my number to your babysitter. Pidge just texted me that Allura and Coran from the same school they work at have started to look-"

"No, it's not! It's _not_ okay!"

He shoved the useless phone into his pocket before he followed through on his impulse, instead reaching his hands up to grab at his hair, voice slowly growing hysterical,

"My child is fucking lost, who knows where the hell they are, and all I can keep thinking about is how they were _all **right**!_ "

So many people had doubted him when he first decided to adopt, shot him looks because he decided he didn't need anybody else, pitied him because he believed he was undesirable, even his parents had been worried, and now Kade was god knows where and some fucking creep probably had them and all Hunk could pray for is that they were safe and unharmed and _god he was a **horrible parent!**_

“They were all right! You can’t do this by yourself; you _need_ to have someone else there, and if somebody was with me Kade wouldn’t have left like that! They were right about my ability to parent by myself, and they were right about me not being attractive enough to find somebody, and-“

Lance firmly grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking Hunk until he finally stopped talking, not even noticing the tears that had welled up in his eyes at his self-depreciative rant, “ _Hunk!_ You need to _calm down_ Big Guy! Take a deep breath.”

It seemed really ridiculous, taking deep breaths in the middle of the neighborhood at 4:00 pm in the afternoon on a Saturday, but Lance was the one not hysterical right now, so Hunk did as he said. The brunette started to talk once he’d calmed down, keeping the grip on his shoulders. “Panicking is not going to help. We’re not going into this right now, because it _doesn’t need to happen_. You are _not_ a horrible parent, all of them were _wrong_ , and _Kade is **safe**_ okay. Safe, at least until proven otherwise.”

Hunk nodded, mostly at the not go into this right now, every moment spent not looking was a moment wasted. He couldn’t be having an emotional breakdown when Kade’s location was still unknown. Lance continued to talk, reassuring his friend. “My whole family is searching; Pidge and their brother and those two other people are looking too, and I bet you that a really nice Mom or Dad came across Kade and is keeping them safe. Maybe misgendering them, but we both know Kade can handle that.”

Hunk couldn’t help but smile; there were two things that would get Kade upset, seeing anybody being mean to another person, and getting misgendered. God help the people that dared to go against those two things.

“So, do you wanna run back to your house to plug your phone in? Or you wanna keep going?”

Hunk shook his head, already starting his walk back in the direction of the park they were heading to, “No, I just wish I could’ve warned certain people about it, but nothing can be done about that now. We have to keep going, the park is close by, that _has_ to be where Kade is.” They both visibly perked as they turned to follow the sidewalk, and up ahead there stood Pidge, waving and calling out to them with two other people standing behind them, Hunk able to name them as Allura and Coran, the people that worked at the same school with Shiro.

He was too caught up in worry to have the thought to hurt thinking about Shiro, instead picking up his pace to reach the group. “Did you guys have any luck?” He was met with Pidge and Allura sadly shaking their heads, Coran seemed to be busy texting on his phone and didn’t respond, and Hunk deflated just a little bit more. He looked out to the side, the park they had been talking about just across from them. “Have you checked the park yet? We can all comb through it now that we’re all together.”

“Mr. Garrett, we already looked.” It was said with such a quiet voice Hunk hardly heard it, but he turned to Pidge, looking at their downtrodden face. “We looked everywhere. . . you may need to call the police.”

For one moment in time, Hunk was awash with absolute _horror._ Kade was gone. Kade was missing and _he couldn’t find them._ Every place that they could’ve been was searched. How far away were they? What if Kade was by a highway? What if they were walking around in the town? His **_child_** was off somewhere **_completely alone and it was Hunk’s fault._**

“Hold on a moment! We didn’t check the walking trail!”

Just like that the biggest wave of relief hit Hunk. One last beacon of hope, a godsend, a sign that Kade was still okay. He didn’t even stop to make a plan with the others, immediately turning on his foot and bolting to the start of the walking trail that ran around the park and went through the woods nearby, Kade had to be there, Kade _had to be okay-_

Just past the swings, on the path behind it, there was an orange trike.

Sitting on that trike, shoulders hunched in and frowning as they looked down at the ground, was-

“ ** _KADE!_** ”

Hunk didn’t stop his feet, not even when Kade began to run to him too. He only slowed down so he didn’t wipe out as he got down onto his knees, arms opening wide as Kade slammed into him and the moment his arms wrapped tight around his child, everything finally felt _okay._

His shirt was quickly growing wet with tears as Kade sobbed onto his shoulder, their voice high pitched and so full of fear and sadness as they babbled out word after word, “I’m-I’m sor- _hic_ -sor-sorry Dad-Daddy! I was going-going to get Mister Shi- _hic_ -Shiro and make him say-say sorry! I was-was scared that yu- _you were le-lea-leaving me!_ ” A loud wail left them then, and Hunk was stunned to silence.

He’d made Kade think that he was leaving them, all because he didn’t want to be around Shiro.

Hunk squeezed Kade tight, not caring as his own tears welled up. “Kade no no no I promised you I never would okay? I was being selfish and wasn’t thinking about anyone else being effected by what I did, I hurt you unintentionally and _I’m so sorry Kade._ I will **_always_** be your family. You’re the best thing to ever happen to me, and I’m _so happy_ you’re safe.” He pulled away just enough for Kade to look at him, his heart hurting even more as he saw how red-faced they were, the way their lip wobbled, and how shiny their eyes and cheeks were from tears. “I forgive you Kade, you were worried. I don’t like that you ran away but I forgive you. Can you forgive me?”

Kade nodded almost immediately and Hunk pulled them close once more, closing his eyes and relishing the warmth of them in his arms, a deep relief settling in his bones now knowing that they were finally safe.

The pounding in his ears slowly went away, Hunks ears picking up the sounds of people walking closer, most of all he heard one voice in particular that grabbed his attention. He opened his eyes and looked up, making eye contact with Shiro, a smile on his face that was relaxed but held a twinge of nervousness to it. Hunk gathered Kade up into his arms and stood, wishing he at least had the time to clean up his face before having this conversation, but it was one long overdue and Hunk wasn’t going to let himself avoid it any longer.

“Shiro, uh. . . funny place to run into you?”

Shiro chuckled at the question, and Hunk took that as a sign that things weren’t completely ruined with him. “It is, although I think it’s for the best we did run into each other. Kade was crying on the first floor of my apartment building, I tried calling you but there was no response. I just figured something had happened to your phone, so me and Keith took them outside to keep them entertained and hoped you or somebody looking for them would walk by.”

A cough from behind Shiro caught both of their attention, Hunk looking and seeing who he could guess was Shiro’s roommate, Keith if he was correct. His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he was fixing Shiro with a pointed look, “We both know you were just afraid to face your boyfriend, he was worried that you were mad at him.”

The blush that started on Shiro’s cheeks was answer enough for Hunk, feeling even worse when he turned back around and flashed him a sad smile, “Kind of that too.” His face softened then, eyebrows furrowing and Shiro’s eyes glancing down to the ground, “Hunk, if I did anything wrong I’m sorry for it.”

Hunk shook his head, “No, I’m the one who needs to apologize. I was being selfish, I was afraid to talk with you so instead I changed things around so I wouldn’t have to. I. . . understand if you don’t want a relationship with me anymore, whether that was before at the restaurant or now after this whole thing.”

“Wait-what about the restaurant?”

Hunk could only stare at Shiro who did the same to him, mouth working as he tried to find words to say, “I-After I sent that text, saying I couldn’t wait, I went to the bathroom before I left. When I left, I. . . I saw you sitting at the bar with someone else. I thought you didn’t want to date me anymore.”

The way Shiro’s eyes widened took Hunk by surprise, even more so when he began to respond, “Hunk no I never wanted to stop! I got there after you sent that text and decided to have a drink because I was angry at the day I had and at myself because I left you hanging, and the person there was a friend of mine I met through summer camp! Her name’s Simone and she works for NASA, we were catching up because she was in town. I figured _you_ were angry at me and wouldn’t want to talk with me yet so I wanted to give you space!”

Keith spoke up again, voice honest, “He’s right, she dropped him back off at our apartment,” his dark eyes glared at Shiro again, voice now turning cross, “Because _somebody_ got hammered from ranting about his day and deciding it was a great idea to down three more drinks after his first. Thank god Simone doesn’t drink and liked you enough to haul your sorry a-butt. Your sorry butt back.”

There was a small break in tension as Kade had lifted their head from Hunk’s shoulder, giving a curious look at Keith as he spoke, and the man had kept himself from swearing in front of the child. Hunk let out a tiny laugh, relief flooding his body. Misunderstandings, it was always the most _ridiculous_ of misunderstandings that led to these problems. He could hear the search party that had gathered stepping closer to them. Lance was smiling as he called his family, letting them know Kade was found. Pidge, Allura, and Coran went to stand by Shiro, Allura and Pidge teasing Shiro while Coran winked at Keith, Keith rolling his eyes at him but smiling. Things were okay now.

“Okay, so we agree that we’re both idiots?”

Hunk looked back at Shiro, his mind and body now calm with the knowledge that Shiro still wanted him and feeling Kade’s weight in his arms. He could do this, it was possible to raise a kid and fall in love.

“Agreed.”

Everything was okay.

 

 

 

_-a few minutes earlier-_

_Hey whatre u doin  -K_

_Currently helping find one of the kids at my job, they got lost. -C_

_And good lord GRAMMAR Keith! -C_

_Fine -K_

_Would the kid you’re looking for happen to be six or something, wild brown hair? -K_

_Have you heard them say tooken? -C_

_They literally just said that -K_

_That’s them! That’s Kade! They’re the child we’re looking for! -C_

_Figures you’d know them by their grammar -K_

_Anyway me and Shiro have them, we’re at the park by our apartment -K_

_Their father wasn’t responding on his phone so we’re just walking around on the trail, just now got back to the playground -K_

_Oh good timing, the father is right next to me. See you in a tick. -C_

_See you -K_


	8. The Best Cliché

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a sweet ending for a sweet story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYBODY THAT HAS READ THIS STORY! it makes me happy to know people have enjoyed this fic and i hope y'all can stick around to see what else i write!

Months passed after Kade’s Big Day Out, months filled with more dates between Hunk and Shiro, which quickly led to them officially becoming boyfriends. One night after Shiro had a stressful day, he wound up crashing at Hunk’s home, and ever since then he’d practically moved in.

That had prompted a phase where Kade kept calling Shiro ‘Papa’. Poor Shiro had spat out his coffee and Hunk had dropped and broken a plate in the sink when Kade did that the first time, and upon being asked they simply said “Well you sleep with Daddy. Doesn’t that make you my Papa?”

Lance had cackled when Hunk relayed this story to him, slyly asking if anything had happened between them and causing Hunk to fluster. Shiro had figured Keith would maybe laugh but had _not_ expected the conversation he started.

“Why haven’t you proposed or something to Hunk yet? Then the ‘Papa’ thing would be true.”

Shiro paused as he stood before his closet, processing the words for a few seconds before he whirled around, clutching onto some of his hanging clothes to his chest.

“I-Keith that’s-Why is _that_ your response?!” Aromantic Keith, the one friend Shiro had _never_ expected to talk about romantic commitment like that, _asking Shiro why he hadn’t proposed yet?_

Keith only raised an eyebrow at him, gesturing both arms around Shiro’s room in their apartment, “Dude, we’re packing up your room so you can permanently move in with Hunk and his kid. Normally this step is followed up with proposing, so don’t look at me like that.”

Shiro glanced around the room, over each of the boxes holding his clothes and other personal belongings, thought about the image of his dresser sitting next to Hunk’s in his- _their_ room, and brushed a hand up into his hair as the realization hit. “Oh. . . Oh my god. Why _haven’t_ I?” Shiro could feel the eye roll Keith was giving him as his friend continued on with closing up full boxes.

Did. . . there was no question about it, Shiro _wanted_ to spend his life with Hunk. He was beautiful and soft and the most giving person he’d ever met. Shiro wanted to be another person that made Hunk smile and laugh. He wanted to see Kade grow and help them along the way.

“Have your early mid-life crisis another time, we need to finish packing up.” Shiro didn’t even blink as Keith grabbed the hangers he was still holding, separating the clothes from them and packing them into a box before closing that one up.

Right, this was something to think about later. There was little doubt that it was what Shiro wanted to do, now was the matter of how, and he already had an idea for that.

-

Meanwhile, Hunk was sitting and watching a short movie with Kade as they waited for Shiro to come with his things. He felt like it was not a coincidence that Kade picked _Tangled Ever After_ after watching Tangled _._ So while Kade laughed and squealed as Max and Pascal desperately did everything they could to save the wedding rings, Hunk was having his own early mid-life crisis as he was struck with the realization that he wanted to commit to Shiro. Kade seemed unawares until the credits started to roll and they turned to him, eyebrows furrowing.

“Daddy? Did the movie scare you?”

Hunk looked up to the TV screen, Rapunzel staring back at him as if she had fully intended to scared him. “No, not really. Kade, could I ask you something?”

They nodded and pulled themselves up into Hunk’s lap, leaning onto his chest and staring up at him with wide eyes that made him feel more put on the spot. He cleared his throat, rubbing a hand up and down their back as he began to talk, “So, you like Mister Shiro right? You like having him move in with us?”

Kade smiled and nodded, patting a hand on Hunk’s stomach, “Yeah! I like having Papa in our home!” Hunk didn’t even try to correct Kade, it was very much what was going to happen, but quickly took to reassuring Kade as they suddenly frowned, “Is he not staying here now?”

“No no buddy he’s still coming here, this kind of has to do with it though.” Hunk furrowed his eyebrows in thought, trying to think of the best way to talk about this, before he looked at Kade again, “Do you know how your _tama o le tama_ and your _tina o le tina_ have rings on their fingers?” his parents were the only people Kade would know that they were married, and Hunk was right as they nodded, “They have those rings because they wanted to be with each other for as long as they could, so they got married, like Rapunzel and Eugene did in the short.”

Kade gasped, eyes sparkling as their almost seven year old mind shot straight on ahead, “Did they get married like them? Did Granpapa and Granmama live in a castle and shoot off fireworks?! Do they own a horse!?”

Hunk laughed and patted Kade’s head, slowing them down before they got too far ahead, “No buddy, as much as it would be cool, their wedding wasn’t in a castle or had a horse. I think they had fireworks, but you’ll have to ask them.”

They made a soft ‘oh’, face scrunching with disappointment before it changed to confusion, “What’s this got to do with Papa?”

Hunk took in a deep breath, biting the bullet as he casually asked, “Well, how would you feel if I married Pa-Mister Shiro?”

As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough that he almost called Shiro _Papa,_ next Kade got that very specific look, their wide doe eyes coming out as they looked Hunk up and down, and whispered softly, “You would look pretty in a wedding dress.”

Hunk muffled his chuckle, instead patting Kade on the head once more, “I bet I would, but I don’t quite have the money for something that expensive. You look better in dresses anyway. So, you’d be okay if me and Mister Shiro were husbands?”

The anticipation was eating Hunk alive as Kade furrowed their eyebrows in thought, their small fingers poking at the designs on hunks shirt before they nodded, and he sighed in relief.

“Yeah, are you gonna marry him when he comes back?”

Hunk snorted at the innocent question, if only it were that easy. Now that it was clear Kade was very okay with this, Hunk felt more confident thinking about it. “No buddy, the thing about getting married is that when somebody decides to do that with someone else, they surprise the person by asking them! It’s a good surprise, so you can’t tell Mister Shiro that I’m going to ask him, okay?”

Kade nodded solemnly, the sound of a car pulling up pulling their attention.

“That must be Papa!” They quickly climbed down from the couch and bolted to do the door to open and dart out of it, Hunk standing to follow. He paused in the open doorway, watching as Kade ran to where Shiro had climbed out of the car, quickly opening his arms up and catching Kade in his arms. Hunk felt a warmth blossom in his chest as Shiro and Kade laughed, his child latching onto his. . . hopefully future husband’s neck.

Hopefully.

-

“Papa come ooooooooon Miss Allura can be a good site leader!”

It was a miracle that Shiro didn’t lose it at the tired tone to Kade’s voice, biting down a snicker as he shrugged at Allura, her own eyes crinkled with mirth and a hand thrown over her mouth to hide her smile. “I guess Kade makes a good point. Don’t hesitate to call if something happens okay?”

Allura rolled her eyes, pointing to the tablet where they had the parents check their kids in and out. “I promise I’ll be more than fine, go ahead and check Kade out now so we can make sure the code works.”

Shiro nodded, unable to help the smile as he signed Kade out of care. Since they had started to make pretty big moves in their relationship, Hunk had asked Shiro if he wanted to be able to take Kade in and out of care. They had security measures to keep kids safe, including the sign in and out process. Now that Shiro had moved in with the other two, it became clear that Kade could go in early with Shiro to before school care, but at the time Hunk was the only one allowed to sign them in and out.

_‘Not anymore now.’_ Shiro thought as the tablet accepted the sign-out, Allura shooing him out the door along with Kade eagerly tugging his arm. It felt good to be leaving work at 4:30 in the late afternoon instead of 6 or even 6:30 at night, the sun was still peeking out and it warmed his skin as Shiro walked with Kade out to his car, touched when they slipped their hand into his without question once they reached the parking lot.

The moment only reminded Shiro of what he wanted to do, he had planned it but what he was about to ask would decide if he followed through or not. Once they reached his car, Shiro turned to Kade, “Can I ask you something Kade?”

Their chocolate eyes darted up to him, wordlessly nodding for Shiro to continue. He crouched down next to them, cautiously asking, “Do you know about weddings? How they work and stuff?”

He was _not_ expecting an eye roll and a sigh, Kade nodding. Well, that meant Shiro didn’t have to worry about that whole conversation. So he continued on, heart pounding as he carefully asked, “Okay. . . would you be happy if I asked your Dad to marry me?”

For half a second, Shiro really thought things would go wrong. Kade got the most wide-eyed, stunned look on their face and he was so worried about the response. But Kade’s face quickly split into a grin, and they threw themselves at Shiro, and he grunted from the sudden weight tossed at him and tumbled back onto his ass.

“Yeah Papa! Marry Daddy!”

Shiro nearly cried. He hugged Kade tightly, so grateful for the child that so willingly accepted him. He couldn’t wait to legally adopt them, couldn’t wait to watch them grow while he stood by Hunk’s side. Would he want any more kids after Kade? No matter what Shiro was ready for it.

“Thank you Kade, I promise to take good care of your father and you too. I want you to help me when I ask him, so you have to keep this secret, okay?” Kade nodded, and Shiro squeezed them one last time before they finally climbed into the car.

So happy was he that as Shiro began to drive them home, with plans to make a homemade dinner for Hunk, he didn’t notice the way Kade furrowed their eyebrows in thought from their car seat, eyes calculating as they thought seriously.

_If Daddy wants to marry Papa, and Papa wants to marry Daddy. . . then who’s going to wear the wedding dress?_

-

Kade still didn’t know the answer to that serious thought even now, a few weeks since Papa had moved in and they were having a party to celebrate it. Daddy had woke them up this morning and told Kade he was going to ask Papa today about marrying him, and Papa had told them the same thing as they cleaned up the house while Daddy went to the grocery store.

The party was already going on, Uncle Lance was here with his whole family, Pidge had come with their doggy Gunther and their older brother Matt who also knew Papa, then Papa’s friend Keith came too with Mister Coran (they never knew Mister Coran had adopted Keith! Just like Daddy had adopted Kade!) and Miss Allura came with Mister Alfor, the really big and tall guy who Kade saw sometimes during field trips and at the school during school breaks. He helped Kade roller-skate one time and that was nice of him.

It was a lot of people, it looked like a big crowd from the window in Kade’s room. Daddy and Papa at different times told them to go upstairs and make a card using their best handwriting and coloring skills asking the other to marry him, and now Kade was stuck.

There was only one piece of big paper left (they had practiced on the four other pieces, front _and_ back) and they didn’t have their scissors to cut the paper in half. They had to go downstairs with something, or neither Daddy or Papa would be able to ask the other to marry him.

They thought for a long time. They tried thinking like Winnie the Pooh, but that didn’t work. They tried thinking like that guy who was a statue, but that didn’t work either. They tried to think like Tulio from _El Dorado_ but Kade hit their head once on the wall and it really hurt so they stopped.

They sat and stared at the paper and smelly markers they were going to use, thinking as hard as they could before they got an idea.

They smiled and eagerly went to work, carefully coloring in the lines and even though they could only do capital A’s this was the best thing Kade would ever draw or do, because they were going to surprise both Daddy _and_ Papa.

They also figured out who would wear the wedding dress.

-

It couldn’t be a more perfect day for a party. There was a cool breeze, the sun was out, and everybody was more than happy.

The perfect atmosphere for proposing to someone.

Hunk and Shiro were on opposite sides of the backyard, both trying not to be obvious in the way they each kept watching the door for Kade to come out. both were oblivious to the other doing the same thing as the other, both were going to propose to the other.

Unfortunately both would have their plans deviate from the plan, a child’s voice calling out to them.

“Daddy! Papa!”

Immediately both their heads snapped to the backdoor of the house, allowing them to see Kade on the tiny porch, clutching a big piece of paper to their chest and smiling as they waited for the two to come closer. As Hunk and Shiro walked to the child, they each thought _‘This is not what I told Kade to do.’_  But they both stood to either side of Kade, the child loudly calling for everyone’s attention (not like everybody was already looking.).

Neither adult knew what to expect as Kade looked between them, giggling and smiling like they had the biggest secret in the world on their tongue, and then they threw their arms up, the paper they were holding faced out for them and everyone else to see.

“ _SURPRISE! HAPPY PROPULSION!_ ”

Hunk wanted to ask why Kade said propulsion instead of proposal, and Shiro wanted to ask why he smelled artificial cherries, but both forgot those questions as they saw the picture Kade held up.

It was a picture of the two of them with heart eyes and holding hands, Kade was drawn on the side in a dress cheering, even the sun was cheering from where it was in the corner, but what drew their attention was the child’s scrawl above their drawing version heads, that they were both saying,

_I wAnt to mArry You!_

They both stared speechlessly at the paper before looking at each other, both still processing what this meant as Kade happily continued to talk,

“I ran out of paper and since you were both propulsioning to each other I put it on one paper! And the red spot is so it would smell like cherries. And I’ll wear the wedding dress!”

The silence was almost unbearable, Shiro and Hunk were quiet as they stared at each other, their guests were just as quiet. Lance had his phone already up and recording, having expected to have his friend Hunk down on one knee proposing to Shiro, Allura had her phone out too but was expecting Shiro to be on one knee proposing to Hunk, Pidge had to turn away to not completely lose their mind, and Keith only sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while muttering ‘romance’ under his breath.

Kade was the quietest, looking between the two before carefully asking, “Daddy? Papa? Did I do something wrong?” They paused before continuing on, “Did you guys want to wear the dress? Maybe we could all wear dresses?”

Hunk and Shiro both finally came to, looking down at Kade and the serious look on their face, before they burst out into laughter. Hunk kneeled down first to bring Kade into a hug, Shiro quickly following to wrap his arms around the both of them.

Hunk said yes to Shiro’s proposal, finally fulfilling his MASH prediction from second grade (House, Married, One child, and they would work on owning two cats).

Shiro said yes to Hunk’s proposal, happy that they wanted to be with Shiro forever and that he would forever be a part of Hunk and Kade’s lives.

Kade said yes when Hunk and Shiro asked if they wanted to wear the dress, because they would wear it better than Daddy or Papa.

-

People are funny whenever the topic of children comes up. Most people are enthused at the idea, some are unsure, and a good majority avoided it entirely.

Make one mention of maybe not having kids and every time someone will be there to jump down your throat with _why do that?_ and _you’ll regret it!_ as if they could foresee the future.

Actually talk about having kids and now it’s _do you really think you’re ready?_ and _you’ve gotta sacrifice!_ and it’s as if they don’t want you to have them.

Now, if you _really_ wanted to shake things up, tell them you plan to raise a child without finding a significant other first.

That was what Hunk did, and it was the best decision he ever made.

 

 

 

_the end_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if enough people are interested i'll post my interpretation of the drawing Kade made, it's pretty quality if i do say so


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